Don't Think Just Do It: Year 4
by I am the Girl Who Lived
Summary: Part 4 of the Don't Think Just Do It series.With the Triwizard Tournament at Hogwart's,and Harry mysteriously entered in it,there's romance,surprises,dances,and an annoying woman trying to get the flocks secrets in the papers.Not good at summaries. R&R!
1. Chapter 1

_**AUTHORS NOTE :P**_

_**Hey everyone and welcome to Don't Think Just Do it: Year 4!**_

**_I was looking forward to writing this one ever since I had all the plots, twists and turned figured out. And trust me, there are a lot in this story. _****_So I hope everyone enjoys it, and as a start of story gift, everyone gets cookies and butterbeer to enjoy while reading this chapter._**

**_I would like to dedicate this story to everyone that reviewed in the last three stories. This is for all of you!_**

**_So, without further ado, here's the first chapter!_**

**_-Rach ;)_**

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><p><em><strong>Wormtail's POV<strong>_

"Light the fire, Wormtail," the Dark Lord ordered, his voice high-pitched and cold. I turned to look at what was left of my master, but quickly looked away again, cringing. That Potter boy had reduced the mighty Lord Voldemort to nothing more then a disgusting, child like thing. He was beyond description.

As I set to lighting the fire, I thought once again of the night a few months ago when Potter saved my life. He could of let Remus and Sirius kill me, but he didn't. He let me live. It more was more then what I deserved, after what I did to James and Lily. But they had to die, for my Lord to live. I was terrified of the Dark Lord, but there was no where else for me to go. And no one else left to care for the Dark Lord. I wish someone else would show up, another Death Eater, someone else loyal to Lord Voldemort, so I wouldn't be alone with him and his snake. But no one else cared enough. Or was frightened enough.

Once the fire was lit, I stood up again. After loosing so much weight when Sirius broke out of Azkaban, I was at my same old weight again, so it was more difficult to stand up. "The fire is lit, my Lord," I squeaked, sounding fearful and timid, standing well away from him, and avoiding eye contact. He hates eye contact. "Yes, I can see that Wormtail," The Dark Lord said, almost sarcastically.

It was obvious the Dark Lord of thinking over the plan again. He was always thinking about that plan. I stayed quiet for a few minutes, too scared to speak. My master mightn't be strong yet, but it I did one thing wrong, he would kill me without hesitation.

"Feed me, Wormtail," the Dark Lord said, indicating to the bottle of mushed food. I grimaced, hesitated, then went and picked up his bottle. I heated it with my wand, then stepped closer to the Dark Lord. "Here, my Lord," I said. The Dark Lord raised his head a small bit, and I put the bottle in his mouth. He sucked on the bottle like a baby. Another few minutes, and he stopped, pulling his deformed and small head away from the bottle.

"There's still more left, my Lord," I said, giving the bottle a small shake. "If your still hungry," I added quickly.

"Later," the Dark Lord said, his voice making the hair on the back of my neck stand up. "Move me closer to the fire, Wormtail," he said, sounding tired. It wouldn't be long before he was asleep. The thought didn't calm me one bit.

I walked to the back of the chair my Lord was sitting in. He was so small and weak, you couldn't see the top of his head from where I was standing. I started pushing the chair across the floor, towards the fireplace.

"Where is Nagini?" Lord Voldemort asked.

"I- I'm not sure, my Lord," I answered, "I think- I think she went exploring the house." The Dark Lords father's house was very large, and very old. A perfect place for a giant snake to wander around. Plenty of mice to eat. The thought made me shudder. Thankfully, I was still behind the Dark Lords chair, so he didn't see it.

"You will milk her before we sleep, Wormital," the Dark Lord ordered. "I will need to be fed in the night. This entire journey has tired me greatly. There was a moments silence, then I asked something that had been itching at me since we arrived here. "My Lord, may I ask...how long do you plan to stay here?"

"A week," my master replied. I was relieved he didn't seem angry at my question. "Possibly longer. This place is somewhat comfortable, and it would be stupid to act before the Quidditch World Cup."

I frowned, and asked, "The Quidditch World Cup? But, my Lord, forgive me I don't understand- why should we wait before the Cup is over?"

"Because fool," the Dark Lord hissed, "At this very moment, there are wizards pouring into the country from all over. And every person from the Ministry of Magic will be on the look out for anything strange, any unusual activity. They will be obsessed with security, lest the Muggles notice something. So we wait."

"So my Lord is still determined?" I said, thinking of how long the Dark Lord had been thinking about this plan. "Of course I am determined, Wormtail," the Dark Lord said, a hint of menace in his voice. I cringed, then voiced something that was running through my mind since I rejoined the Dark Lord. "It can be done without Harry Potter, my Lord," I said in a rush before I lost my nerve.

"Without the boy..." my Lord said quietly, "I see..." Oh no.

"My Lord, I do not say that out of concern for the boy!" I said fast, "That boy is nothing to me! Nothing! And neither were his parents! I was just saying we could use another witch or wizard, any at all! It would make the job so much more easier and quicker! If you allowed me to leave you for just a short while- you know how I can disguise myself- I could be back here in as little as two days with a suitable person."

"A different wizard..." the Dark Lord said slowly, as if thinking it over. "I could use a different wizard."

I let out a sigh of relief. He was actually thinking about it! He didn't even seem mad that I had brought it up. "It makes sense, my Lord," I said, sounding relived. "Trying to lay hands on Harry Potter would be too difficult. He is so well protected."

"So your volunteering to fetch me a substitute?" the Dark Lord said, "I wonder, perhaps, that nursing me back to health has become wearisome for you, Wormtail. Could this be nothing more than an attempt at abandoning me?"

"My Lord! I-I have no wish to leave you at all!" I said, lying.

"Don't lie to me!" the Dark Lord hissed. I winced, looking away from him. "I can tell, Wormtail. Your regretting ever returning to me! I revolt you. I see you flinch and cringe every time you see me, feel you shudder when you touch me." My heart was thudding in my chest, and it was difficult to breath.

"My Lord, my devotion is to you-"

"Your devotion is nothing more then cowardice. You wouldn't be here if you had anywhere else to be. How could I survive if you leave me, when I need feeding every few hours? Who would milk Nagini?"

"But my Lord, you seem so much stronger-"

"Liar," the Dark Lord breathed angrily. "I am no stronger then before and a few days alone and I would be robbed of what little health I have regained under your clumsy care. Silence!" I was spluttering and whimpering, but feel silent at once. For a few seconds, there was no sound except for the spitting of the fire.

"I have my reasons for using the boy. Reasons that I have already explained to you. I am not going to use another wizard. And after what you told me happened when you escaped, I might use someone else as well as Potter." I stared at the Dark Lord. Who else could he use? He didn't need to use anyone else, just one person.

"My Lord, I don't understand. Who-"

"I shall tell you when the time is right, Wormtail. I have waited thirteen years, I can wait a few more months. As for the protection around the boy, my plan will be effective. All that is needed is courage from you, Wormtail. Courage you will find unless you want to face the wrath of Lord Voldemort."

"My Lord, let me speak!" I squeaked, terrified and panicked, "All through our journey, I have gone over the plan in my mind. My Lord, Bertha Jorkin's disappearance will not go unnoticed and if I proceed, if I murder-"

"If?" the Dark Lord whispered, "If? If you follow the plan Wormtail, the Ministry doesn't need to know that anyone died. You will do it quietly and without a fuss. I only wish I could it all myself but in my current situation...Come, Wormtail, one more death and our path to Harry Potter, and possibly the other, will be clear. I am not asking you to do it on your own. By that time, my faithful servant will have returned-"

That statement made my blood boil. "I am a faithful servant!" I said. I even let you kill two of the people I cared about. But I kept that thought to myself.

"Wormtail, I need someone with brains, someone who's loyalty has never wavered, and you don't fulfill either requirements." the Dark Lord said.

"I found you," I gasped, sulky, "I was the one that found you. I brought you Bertha Jorkins."

"That is true," the Dark Lord said, actually sounding amused. "A stroke of brilliance I expected not from you, Wormtail. Though, if truth be told, you weren't aware of how useful she was when you caught her, were you?"

How could he know that? I only took her because I knew she worked for the Ministry. I didn't know she had any useful information. "I- I thought she might be useful, my Lord," I stammered. "Liar," the Dark Lord said, sounding bored. "However, I cannot deny that her information wasn't a waste. Without it, I could not have made our plan, and for that you will be rewarded, Wormtail. I will allow you to do an essential task for me, one that many of my followers would give their right hands to perform."

I couldn't believe what I was hearing. He wasn't mad at me? He wasn't going to kill me? But...what if he was going to kill me after I did the task...?

"R-Really, my Lord?" I stuttered. "What-?"

"Ah, Wormtail, you don't want me to ruin the surprise, do you?" the Dark Lord said. Actually, I did. The many possibilities of what I might have to do was running around my mind, and they all terrified me. "Your part will come at the very end. But I promise you, you will have the honor of being just as useful as Bertha Jorkins."

I decided to ask what was bothering me the most. "You...You..." my mouth had gone very dry and it was difficult to speak. "Your... going... to... kill... me... too?"

"Wormtail, Wormtail..." the Dark Lord said silkily. "why would I kill you? I killed poor Bertha because I had to. She was fit for nothing after I questioned her. Besides, there would be awkward questions when she got back to the Ministry with the news that she saw you on her holidays. After all, you are meant to be dead, and dead wizards don't just walk into Ministry witches at wayside inns."

"You could of modified her memory," I muttered so low I doubt anyone would be able to hear it. But of course, the Dark Lord heard it. He laughed a high, cold laugh that made my blood go cold. "Modified her memory? But Memory Charms can easily be broken by a powerful wizard, as I proved when we questioned her. It would be an insult to her memory if we didn't use the information she gave us.

"One more murder," the Dark Lord went on, "My faithful servant at Hogwarts...Harry Potter is as good as mine. It is decided. There will be no more argument. Be quit...I think I hear Nagini..."

I swallowed nervously, hoping I wouldn't cringe while the Dark Lord was looking at me. Then he started hissing in Parseltongue. I must admit, whenever the Dark Lord spoke in Parseltonue, I always became terrified. I never knew what he was saying, so for all I know he could be telling Nagini to kill me.

Finally, Nagini slithered into the room, taking her time because she was just so large. She hissed something to the Dark Lord, and the Dark Lord hissed something in return.

"Nagini has some interesting news, Wormtail," the Dark Lord said.

"Indeed, my Lord?" I said, hoping I didn't sound too panicked. "Indeed yes," the Dark Lord said. "According to Nagini, there is an old Muggle man standing right outside the door, listening to every word we say."

My eyes widened, and I quickly ran over to the door, and flung it open, alarmed. There was an old man, maybe in his eighties, standing in the hall, leaning on a walking stick. His eyes were wide and fearful, but yet his jaw was set in a way that made me believe he was going to fight to the very end. I envied this man for his courage, but felt better knowing that the Dark Lord would kill him.

"Invite him in, Wormtail," the Dark Lord called from the room behind me, "Where are your manners?"

I beckoned the old man into the room. The old man gripped his walking stick tighter and limped into the room, his wrinkled face determined.

"You heard everything, Muggle?" the Dark Lord asked. He wasn't facing the old man, and the old man wasn't able to see him either. If he had, I bet the old man wouldn't be looking so brave.

"What's that your calling me?" the old man asked fiercely. "I am calling you a Muggle," the Dark Lord replied, sounding amused, "It means your not a wizard."

"I don't know what you mean by wizard," the old man said steadily. "All I know is that I've heard enough to go to the police, and they'll be very interested with what I have to say. You've murdered, and your planning on murdering more! And I'll tell you this as well- my wife knows I'm up here, if I don't go home-" my eyes flashed down to the mans hand. There wasn't ring there, or even a tan line indicating that there was ever a ring there before.

"You have no wife," the Dark Lord said, "Nobody knows where you are. Do not lie to Lord Voldemort, Muggle, for I know. I always know."

"Is that right?" the old man said roughly. I couldn't help admire this man. He was old, crippled, and had no family, yet he was so brave. I hated him as well as admire him. I couldn't wait until the my Lord killed him.

"Lord is it?" the old man went on, "Well I don't like your manners, My Lord. Come and turn me like a man."

"But I am not a man, Muggle," the Dark Lord said, "I am much, much more then a man. However, why not? Wormtail, turn my chair around."

I whimpered, wondering how the old man would take the Dark Lord's appearance. "You heard me, Wormtail."

I screwed up my face, and walked slowly over to the chair. I put my hands well away from Nagini, who was lying on top of the chair and slowly turned the chair around to face the old man. Nagini hissed at me, but I did my best to ignore her.

As soon as the old man saw the Dark Lord, he dropped his walking stick. He screamed, but as soon as he started screaming, the Dark Lord raised his wand. His words weren't heard over the old mans screams, but the bright green light would of been seen a mile away. The old man was dead before he hit the ground.

I wasn't sure what to feel as I stared at the defenseless, brave, alone man.

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><p><em><strong>Max's POV<strong>_

"Max."

"Go way."

"Get up."

"Get lost."

"Mrs Weasley has breakfast ready."

"I'm sleeping."

"I can see that."

"So leave."

"Get outta bed."

"Shh. I'm sleeping."

There wasn't another word said, so I assumed Fang had given up and left. It was only a few weeks since the flock escaped the School in California, where the six of us were raised. Now, the School isn't really a school, it's a lab where the flock got experimented on and tortured. So the flock all have wings. Yup, we have wings. Four years ago, one of the whitecoats called Jeb Batchelder kidnapped the flock and took us to a house in Colorado. A year later, a man named Albus Dumbledore showed up at our house and told us that we were all wizards and witches and that we would be going to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.  
>Seeing as the rest of the flock weren't old enough, only me, Fang and Iggy could go (Nudge is eleven, twelve in September, Gazzy is eight, and Angel is almost six) and once there we met our best friends, Harry Potter, Ron Weasley (who we now live with) and Hermione Granger.<p>

In our first year, we saved the magical world from the evil and creepy Lord Voldemort, who had killed Harry's parents when he was one, then tried to kill Harry but he wasn't able to, for a reason no one knew. Now Harry was famous through out the magical world for something he can't even remember. In our second year, I got possessed by the memory of Lord Voldemort that he had left behind in a diary, and I was made to attack Muggle-borns. Last year, I found my father, fought Dementors, made a full body Patronus and faced a werewolf, then got taken back to the School.

I wonder what was going to happen this year...

Just as I was snuggling back into my bed, I heard a mischievous giggle. I tensed immediately, afraid of what was going to happen. Then-

_SPLASH!_

"AAARRRGGGHHH!" I screamed. I jumped violently, got tangled in my bed sheets, then feel straight onto the floor. There was loud laughter, and someone said, "Jeez, Max, no need to freak out. I knew you hated taking showers, but this is just going too far."

They poured water on me. They poured water on me while I was trying to sleep. _They freaking poured water over me! _They were so dead.

I leaped up, and saw that the flock were standing in my room, along with the Weasley twins, Fred and George. The Gasman (there's a reason we call him that. Note to the wise- don't go into a small space with Gazzy. You've been warned) was standing by the door with an empty jug, whistling innocently. And Gazzy was never innocent. Nudge and Angel were beside him, giggling madly into their hands.

"I swear to Merlin-" I said, wringing out my wet hair. "What the bloody hell was that for?"

"You wouldn't get up, so I made some drastic decisions," Fang said, looking at me with a grin. I was soaked, my long blonde hair was plastered to my scalp, my baggy pajamas soaked to my skin. I glared at him, then snapped, "Fine, I'm up. Now get out of my room! All of you!" Laughing happily, the flock and Fred and George walked out of my room. "Jerks!" I shouted after them. They only laughed harder.

"Oh, yeah, Max, you know what day this is, right?" Iggy said, pocking his said around my door. "Er, Sunday?" I said. "And you know what that means?" Iggy went on.

"It means that yesterday was Saturday and tomorrow is Monday?" I said, rooting around in my wardrobe for something clean to wear.

"No, moron," Iggy snorted. "It means that after dinner, we're leaving to go get Harry. And tomorrow is the Quidditch World Cup."

"Oh, God! Is that today!" I said, looking around. "Sorry, I haven't really been thinking straight lately. Now get out of my room, so I can get dressed." Iggy grinned at me, then left my room.

After I pulled on a black shirt that read _Bite Me_ in red writing, and blue skinny jeans, I sat back down on my bed. How could I have forgotten about Harry coming tonight, and the World Cup tomorrow? Ever since we escaped the School, I haven't really been thinking straight. I was more easily distracted, and forgot thinks. Mrs Weasley said this might be from minor shock, and it should wear off eventually. I certainly hoped so.

I stood up again, brushed my hair, washed quickly, then jogged down the stairs. My room was opposite Ginny's, on the first floor. When I got into the kitchen, I saw the flock, all the Weasleys and-

"Hermione!" I shrieked, and ran over to her. And as you know, I don't shriek unless I'm actually shouting at someone. I pulled Hermione into a tight hug. "When did you get here?" I asked, pulling away from my best friend. "Last night," Hermione said, smiling. "When you were asleep. Did no one tell you I was coming?" As soon as she asked the question, I remembered Mrs Weasley telling me yesterday morning that Hermione was coming that night, and that Harry was coming today.

"Of course they told me. Sorry, I'm a bit tired," I said, hoping she wouldn't start worrying about me. "That's fine. How are you?" she asked, her brown eyes, not as dark as my own brown eyes, wide with concern. I glared at Ron, who was eating toast at the table over Hermione's shoulder. He just had to write to Hermione and Harry about the flock being taken to the School. Now Hermione was going to be staring at me with those big concerned eyes for weeks! It's going to drive me mad!

"I'm fine, Hermione. Like I said, I'm tired. That's all," I said, hoping she'd believe me. She seemed skeptical, but nodded and smiled anyway, her bushy brown hair resting on her shoulders.

For the rest of the day, the flock, Ron, Hermione, Ginny and Fred and George stayed out in the garden. My mind kept roaming to the picture I had in my room, of my father Sirius Black, my mother Grace Collins, and a mysterious little boy no one seemed to know. Although, that little boy had showed up at the School when we were there, as an Eraser.

I wasn't sure if that boy was my brother or not. When Sirius was talking to me about my mother, he never mentioned the little boy. When I couldn't take the wondering anymore, I had plucked up the courage to send a letter to Sirius asking who the little boy was. I haven't gotten a reply yet.

"Right, Max?" I heard Angel saying. "What sweetie?" I said, looking at her. She was messing with her shirt as George tried to plait her hair. Whatever he was doing, it was far from a plait.

"I said, when we get to the Quidditch World Cup tomorrow we won't be able to fly until we come home. Right?" Why was she asking me this? Because I'm the flocks leader that why.

"Yes, sweetie. We won't be able to fly until we're back here. There will be too many people and it'll be too crowed," I said, stretching onto my back in the grass. The flock looked disappointed, but understanding. The best thing for the flock right now is too stay hidden.

"George, what are you doing?" Ginny asked, eyeing what he was doing to Angel's hair in amusement. "A plait," George answered, twisting Angel's hair in every direction. "Mate, that is as far from a plait as Auntie Muriel is from being a size zero and fun to be around. I'd give up if I were you," Fred said, grinning at his twin. George let Angel's golden curls fall back onto her shoulders, sighed, then feel onto his back in the grass like me.

"Kids! Dinners ready!" Mrs Weasley shouted from the door. We all stood up, Angel holding my hand, and walked back into the Burrow.

"Now, remember," Mrs Weasley said, "Harry's family are a bit- strange, when it comes to magic."

"That's an understatement," I said, piling my plate full with potatoes and chicken, "They aren't strange about magic. They hate magic. Therefore, they wizards and witches, and anything out of the ordinary." A bulb went off in my mind, "Maybe I should show them my wings," I said, more to myself then to anyone else.

"No, Max," Mr Weasley said, stern. "You will do nothing like that. Nothing," then he turned to the twins. "As for you two, you are to be on your best behavior in the Dursley's house. We're not staying long, but you aren't to be playing any of your pranks."

Fred and George looked insulted. "Us? Play pranks on innocent Muggles? Never!" George said, a hand on his heart.

"That's enough, now eat your dinner," Mrs Weasley said. Five minutes later, everyone was finished eating, even the flock who had eaten three plates of food. Having seven children, Mrs Weasley was used to making a lot of food, so having six extra kids in your house that needed to eat more then a normal person wasn't difficult for her.

"Alright, is everyone ready?" Mr Weasley said, standing beside the fireplace. "We told Harry we would be there at five. It's quarter past now. We have to hurry!"

Me, Ron, Fang and Iggy walked over to the fireplace. Fred was about to join us, when George said, "Wait! Fred, come with me! We need to do something first!"

"What do we-?" Fred started, staring at George. Then Fred's eyes widened, and he said, "Ohh. Right, yeah. Five minutes!" he added to us as him and George raced up the stairs. "What are they up to?" Mrs Weasley said, waving her wand so the dishes washed themselves.

Whatever they were up to, it took them nearly fifteen minutes to come back downstairs. "Come on, we're half an hour late! Harry will be wondering what took us so long," Mr Weasley said.

"I'll go first," Mr Weasley went on. "Then Fred, then George. Ron will go after, then Fang, Iggy and Max will come last. Understand?" We nodded. "What's the address again?" Iggy asked, although he knew well what the address was. Two years ago, we all flew to Harry's house in Mr Weasley's enchanted car to bust him out when his aunt and uncle weren't going to let him back to Hogwarts.

"Number 4, Privet Drive," Mr Weasley said, sounding proud of himself that he remembered.

"Right then, everyone ready?" he said, standing into the fireplace. "Right then. Fred, maybe if you wait a few seconds after me. We wouldn't want to shock the Muggles."

He took some of the Floo Powder from the cup by the fireplace, raised his hand and threw the Powder onto the ground and shouted, "Number 4, Privet Drive!"

He erupted in bright green flames, and in the next second, he was gone. "See you on the other side," Fred said, winking. He stepped into the fireplace, and like his father, shouting the Dursley's address.

After Iggy went, I was the only one left. "See you in a minute," I said to the remaining flock, Mrs Weasley and Hermione. After Percy got a job in the Ministry of Magic, he'd locked himself in his room to do his work, and barely left it.

I grabbed some Floo Powder, shouted, "Number 4, Privet Drive!" and threw the powder onto the ground of the fireplace.

I was spinning around and around, green light and soot blocking my vision. Finally, I stopped spinning, but instead of standing in a fireplace, I had landed on Iggy's shoulders in a very small, dark space.

"What the hell happened?" I asked.

"Oh, Max, how nice of you to join us," I heard Fred saying sarcastically. "Did something happen?" I heard Ron's voice asking.

"Oh, no Ron, this is where we wanted to end up," George said.

"Yeah, we're having a peachy time up here," I said, taking deep breaths. The space was so small, so closed in, so dark...

"Mr Weasley, maybe Harry can hear us," Fang said, "He might be able to get us out." Bless you, Fang and your brilliant ideas.

We started hammering on the sides of the chimney, shouting, "Harry! Harry, can you hear us?"

Then I heard Harry's voice, saying, "Mr Weasley? Can you hear me?"

"Shut up!" I shouted.

"Mr Weasley, it's Harry!" Harry said. I rolled my eyes. "Yeah, we hadn't already figured that out," I said sarcastically. "Now get us out!"

Harry knew about the flocks serious claustrophobia, so I hope he wasn't taking his time with this.

"The fireplace is blocked up. You won't be able to get through it," Harry said.

"Why on earth did they block their fireplace?" Mr Weasley said.

"They've got an electric fire," Harry explained.

"Idiots," I said, hoping it was loud enough for the Dursley's to hear.

"Really?" Mr Weasley said, sounding excited. "Eclectic, you say? With a plug?"

"It's electric, Mr Weasley," Iggy said, but I think Mr Weasley was ignoring us.

"I'm thinking of what to do..." Mr Weasley said, "Yes...It's the only way...Stand back, Harry!" Mr Weasley said. I heard him moving his arm, like he was reaching for his wand.

"Wait a moment!" I heard someone shouting from outside the chimney, "What exactly are you doing-?"

_BANG!_

The fireplace burst open, making all of us fall out of it onto the floor. I rolled across the Dursley's sitting room, and finally came to a stop by Harry's feet. He reached down, offering his hand. I gladly took his hand and Harry helped me stand up. "Hey Harry," I said, smiling. I tried not thinking about all the dust and soot that I was covered in. "Hey Max. Are you alright?" he asked, the same concerned look in his eyes that I was getting from everyone lately. "I'm fine," I said, a bit more fiercely then I intended.

I looked around the sitting room, trying not to laugh. The entire room was a mess. Everything was covered in dust, and there were bits of brick scattered all over the sitting room.

Harry's aunt Petunia semmed to have fallen over the coffee table, but Harry's uncle Vernon caught her. There was even dust in Vernon's moustache. Petunia was a very skinny woman with a face like a horse, and Vernon was as large as a whale with barely any neck and his face was a bright purple color.

As I looked at Petunia, I didn't see the slightest bit of resemblance to her sister. In the pictures I've seen of Harry's mother, Lily Potter was a gorgeous woman. She had long red, dark hair, and bright green eyes exactly like Harry. Petunia Dursley, however, had short blond hair, and dull blue eyes. She wasn't as pretty as Lily had been. Maybe that was one reason she hadn't liked her sister. She was jealous.

"That's better," Mr Weasley chuckled. "You must be Harry's aunt and uncle." Mr Weasley stepped forward with his hand outstretched, smiling. Vernon grabbed Petunia and dragged her back a few steps with him.

"Er- yes, sorry about that," Mr Weasley said, looking at the destroyed fireplace. "All my fault. I never thought that we wouldn't be able to get out the other end. I can put it right in a jiffy though. Light a fire so the kids can get back, then I can fix your fireplace before I Disapparate." By the look on the Dursley's face, they hadn't understood a word Mr Weasley said.

"Hello, Harry!" Mr Weasley said, looking at Harry. "Is your trunk ready?"

"Yeah, it's in my room," Harry said.

"We'll get it," Fred said, looking at George. I bet they were hoping they'd see Harry's fat cousin. I actually wanted to see him too, to see if he had actually gotten as fat as Harry said.

No one said anything until Harry's cousin edged into the room. It looked like he was trying to hide his fat butt. He looked absolutely terrified. "Is this your cousin, Harry?" Mr Weasley asked, trying to keep things friendly and to start a conversation.

"Yeah, that's Dudley," Harry said.

"Having a good holiday, Dudley?" Mr Weasley said kindly.

Dudley whimpered and clutched his ass tighter. I shared a look with Harry, but we had to look away from each other before we started laughing.

Fred and George came back into the sitting room, carrying Harry's trunk. When they saw Dudley, they shared a gleeful look. Oh, they were up to something. This should be funny.

"Alright," Mr Weasley said, looking around happily. "We should get moving." He pushed up his sleeves and took out his wand from his pocket. I grinned when I saw the Dursley's all draw back into the wall.

_"Incendio!" _Mr Weasley said, pointing his wand at the hole in the wall that used to be a fireplace. Flames started flickering and dancing in the fireplace as if it had been lit for hours. Mr Weasley took a small pouch from his pocket, opened it, took a pinch of the powder inside and threw it into fireplace. The flames turned emerald green, and I heard Petunia gasp.

"Off you go then, Fred," Mr Weasley said.

"Coming," Fred said, "Oops- oh, no sorry. Hang on."

A bag of sweets spilled from Fred's pocket and now all the sweets were rolling around in every direction. They were big, fat, brightly colored sweets. Fred dropped onto his hands and knees, trying to pick them all up. I saw him giving a small wink to George, who grinned. I don't think anyone else saw it though. Then Fred stood up again, walked right into the fire, gave the Dursley's a happy wave, then he shouted, "The Burrow!" In a whoosh of green flames, Fred was gone.

"Alright, George. You and the trunk," Mr Weasley said. Harry helped George carry the trunk over to the fireplace, then like Fred, George and the trunk were gone.

"Right, Ron, you next," Mr Weasley said. "Bye!" Ron said happily to the Dursley's. Then he vanished.

"Fang, go on," Mr Weasley said. I saw Vernon frown and mouth the word `Fang'. I guess it wasn't a normal enough name for him. Good thing we didn't bring Gazzy.

After Fang had disappeared without even acknowledging the Dursley's, Iggy went. Like with Fang, Vernon and Petunia shared a look when Mr Weasley said Iggy's name. Better get used to it.

"Harry, you can go now," Mr Weasley said. Harry looked at his aunt and uncle and said, "Well...Bye then," Harry said, walking over to the fireplace. The Dursley's ignored Harry, looking too terrified to speak. Just before Harry reached the hearth, Mr Weasley reached out and grabbed Harry's shoulder. "Harry said goodbye. Didn't you hear him?"

"It doesn't matter," Harry said, looking uncomfortable, "Honestly, I don't care."

Still, Mr Weasley didn't remove his hand from Harry's shoulder. "You aren't going to see your nephew until next summer," he said to Vernon Dursley, looking angry, "Surely your going to say goodbye?"

By the look of Vernon Dursley's face, he didn't like the thought of having a man who just blew up his fireplace talk to him like that. At first, I thought Dursley wasn't going to say anything, but then his eyes wandered to Mr Weasley's hand, where his wand was, then to my own wand, that I had in the waist-band of my jeans. "Goodbye, then," Dursley said, looking as though he was in pain.

"See you," Harry said, standing in the fireplace. "Max, get ready to leave right after Harry," Mr Weasley said. I felt Petunia's eyes on me, as if she didn't Max was a suitable name for a young lady. Like, seriously, what was this, the 1800's?

I turned around to face the fireplace, but wheeled around again when there was a loud gagging noise behind me, then Petunia screaming.

Dudley wasn't standing beside his parents anymore. He was over beside the coffee table, where Fred had dropped the sweets. Dudley was gagging and chocking on something a foot-long, purple, slimy thing that was coming from his mouth. It was his tongue.

So gross.

And then I realized that there was a brightly colored toffee wrapper in front of him. Petunia hurled herself onto her son, as if shielding him. She grabbed the end of his massive tongue, then started pulling at it, as if she wanted to pull his tongue out of his head.

Dudley was fighting worse then ever, spluttering and gagging and trying to fight his mother off. Dursley was bellowing and waving his arms around, reminding me of a demented walrus. Mr Weasley had to shout to be heard.

"No need to worry," he shouted, "I can sort him out," he said, walking closer to Dudley but that only made Petunia and Vernon scream worse and much louder.

"No, really," Mr Weasley said, "My son, Fred, he's a bit of a joker. But it's only an Engorgement Charm. Please, I can fix it."

But the Dursley's seemed to have lost control. Petunia was sobbing, tugging at Dudley's tongue. Dudley was chocking worse then before, and he seemed to be suffocating. Vernon, who seemed to have lost control completely, started throwing the china figures very hard at Mr Weasley. One, however, went very close to my head, and it would of hit me if I didn't dodge it.

"Watch it, moron!" I shouted as the china figure shattered against the wall behind me.

"Now really!" Mr Weasley said. "I'm trying to help!"

Screaming like a hippo, Vernon grabbed another ornament.

"Harry! Max! Just go! Go!" Mr Weasley said. Harry stepped fully into the fireplace, looked over his shoulder last time, then shouted, "The Burrow!" And he was gone in a flash of green flame.

I walked into the fire, trying not to giggle at the tickling feeling it had on my skin. I shouted, "The Burrow!" And the last thing I saw before I started spinning uncontrollably was Petunia screaming and screeching on top of Dudley, Dudley chocking on his huge tongue, Vernon throwing things at Mr Weasley, who was trying to keep things under control.

What a lovely home.

* * *

><p><em><strong>And that's the first chapter of Year 4! I hope everyone likes it! <strong>_

_**I'll answer the reviews from the last chapter on Year 3 in the next chapter. **_

_**Like always, if you review, you get free cookies and butterbeer for the next chapter, so...**_

_**REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW!**_

_**lOvE yOu!**_

_**-Rach ;)**_


	2. Welcome Back to the Burrow

_**AUTHORS NOTE :P**_

_**Hello people! **_

_**Sorry about the delay in the first chapter, it wouldn't let anyone read it for ages! Sorry about that**_

_**Now to answer some reviews... (I'll be answering some from the last chapter of the 3rd one too)**_

_**oOSmileOo: Sure, I'd love to hear any ideas anyone has :)**_

**_Nico: Sorry, damn typos... well done on your english test!_**

**_Green Nook: Thanks very much, that means a lot :) as for the Triwizard Tournament question, like I said before, Max won't be in the Tournament but she'll have something to do with it... :p_**

**_Dementia Jackson: Yeah, sorry about the wait on the chapter. And I don't really want to rush Max and Harry's relationship, but something might happen in this story... you don't know... ;)_**

**_Thanks to everyone else that reviewed!_**

**_Here are the free cookies and butterbeer!_**

**_Enjoy!_**

**_-Rach_ ;)**

* * *

><p><em><strong>Max's POV<strong>_

I was spinning and spinning, my arms pinned to my sides. When I felt myself slowing down, I braced myself to fall on the ground. Then I was sprawled on the ground, coughing out soot, rubbing my sore butt from where I landed on.

"Did he eat it?" Fred asked excitedly as he helped me stand up. "Yeah," I said, "What was it?"

"Ton-Tongue Toffee," George said, beaming. "Oh right. Another one of those Weasleys' Wizards Wheezes," I said, grinning. All summer, Fred and George have been making these things for the joke shop they want to have when they leave Hogwarts. They've made trick wands, sweets, fireworks, and every other kind of thing you would find in a wizards joke shop.

"What?" Harry asked, confused. "Fred and I invented them," George said, "We've been looking for someone to test it on. We nearly got Gazzy to eat one, but then Max came in, and ruined it all..."

The kitchen erupted in laughter, and that was when I noticed two other people sitting at the kitchen table with Ron and Fang. They both had bright, red hair and I knew who they were immediately. It was Bill and Charlie, the two eldest Weasley kids. I met Bill before, when we all went to Egypt last year, but I never met Charlie before, who works in Romania with dragons. I wonder when they got here.

Bill and Charlie both stood up, and walked over to Harry. "How are you doing, Harry?" Charlie said, offering his hand to Harry. Harry shook his hand, and as he did, I saw that Charlie had a huge shiny burn running up his forearm. Charlie was broad, and he his arms were very muscled. As Bill went over to shake Harry's hand, Charlie walked over to me.

"And your Max," he said, shaking my hand. "That's me," I said, grinning at him. "When did you and Bill get here?" I asked. "While you were all gone getting Harry," Charlie answered. Then he walked over to Fang and Iggy to introduce himself.

"Hey Max," I heard Bill say from behind. "Hi, Bill," I said. I must admit, before I met Bill I thought he was going to be an older version of Percy; bossy, fussy, and never broke a rule in his life. But Bill came as a shock to me. Even though he was Head Boy at Hogwarts, and works at the wizard bank, Gringotts, Bill had long hair, that he had pulled back in a ponytail, an earring that looked like a fang, and he was dressed as if he was going to a rock concert. He was cool.

Before anyone could say another word, there was a loud popping sound and Mr Weasley appeared out of no where at George's shoulder. He was angrier then I've ever seen him before. More angry then when the Gasman and Iggy blew up some of his Muggle things in the shed out the back.

"That wasn't funny Fred!" Mr Weasley said, "What did you give that Muggle boy?"

"I didn't give him anything, Dad," Fred said, "I dropped it. It's his fault he ate it, I never told him to."

"You dropped it on purpose!" Mr Weasley said, "You knew he was on a diet. You knew he'd eat it."

"How big did his tongue get?" George asked eagerly. "It was nearly four feet before his parents let me fix it!" Mr Weasley shouted.

The Weasley's, Harry, and the members of the flock that were there, roared with laughter again. "It isn't funny!" Mr Weasley shouted again. "That kind of behavior undermines the wizard-Muggle relations! I've spent half my life campaigning against the mistreatment of Muggles, and my own sons-"

"We didn't do it to him because he's a Muggle," Fred said.

"Yeah, we did it because he's a fat, bullying git. Right, Harry?" George said.

"Yeah, he is Mr Weasley," Harry said, trying to keep a straight face.

"That's not the point!" Mr Weasley said, "You wait until I tell your mother-"

"Tell me what?" came Mrs Weasley voice from the back door. Mrs Weasley had just walked into the kitchen, followed by Nudge, Angel, Hermione, Ginny and the Gasman.

"Oh, hello Harry dear," Mrs Weasley said, walking further into the sitting room. By the fact that she didn't seem surprised to see Bill and Charlie, they've already been talking since they arrived. "Tell me what, Arthur?" Mrs Weasley snapped to her husband.

It was obvious Mr Weasley never actually intended to tell his wife anything. He hesitated, eyeing Mrs Weasley nervously. There was silence, and Nudge was looking at everyone in the room, confused about what was happening.

"Tell me what, Arthur?" Mrs Weasley repeated dangerously.

"It's nothing, Molly," Mr Weasley said in a rush. "Fred and George, they just- I had a word with them-"

"What did they do?" Mrs Weasley asked. "It's nothing to do with Weasley's Wizard Wheezes, is it?" Mrs Weasley didn't like anything to do with what the twins were doing. When she first found all their papers with the orders for their merchandise, she had screamed herself hoarse at them.

"Ron, why don't you show Harry where's he sleeping," Hermione said.

"He knows, he slept there last time-" Ron started. I rolled my eyes. Honestly, that boy could be as thick as a brick sometimes.

"We can all go," I said, heading towards the stairs.

"Oh," Ron said, finally catching on. "Right."

"Yeah, we'll come too," Fred said.

"You stay where you are!" hissed Mrs Weasley.

We all edged our way out of the kitchen, and the flock, Harry, Hermione and Ginny climbed up the rickety staircase towards the top, where Ron's room was.

"What are Weasley's Wizard Wheezes?" Harry asked. We all laughed, except for Hermione. I'm not even sure if she knew what they were.

"Mum found this huge stack of forms in their room when she was cleaning it," Ron explained, "Long list of things they've invented. Joke stuff, you know. Fake wands, trick sweets...It was brilliant. I never knew they were even inventing them."

"I knew," Iggy said, grinning. "And so did Gazzy. We helped with all the explosive stuff."

"Of course you did," I said, rolling my eyes. "Why didn't you say anything?"

"We were asked not to tell anyone," the Gasman said.

"We've been hearing explosions from their room for ages," Ginny said, "But none of you actually thought they were doing anything."

"Most of the stuff- well, all of the stuff- that they were making was dangerous," Nudge said, "Then they said they were planning on selling some of it at Hogwarts to make money. Mrs Weasley went mental at them. She told them they couldn't make any more, then burned all their forms. She's furious at them. And they didn't get as many OWL'S as she wanted."

"Then there was a big row," I continued, "Because Mrs Weasley wants them to work at the Ministry like Mr Weasley and Percy, but they told her they want to own a joke shop."

The door beside me opened, and Percy pocked his head out, looking annoyed.

"Hi Percy," Harry said.

"Hello Harry," Percy said pompously. "I was wondering who was making so much noise. I'm trying to work in here, you know. I've got a report to do finish for the office. And it's rather difficult to concentrate with people thundering up and down the stairs."

"We're not thundering," Iggy said irritably, "We're walking. Sorry if we disturb the super top secret work of the Ministry of Magic."

"What are you working on?" Harry asked politely. Sometimes, Harry is just too polite.

"A report for the Department of International Magical Cooperation," Percy said smugly. "We're trying to standardize cauldron thickness. Some of the foreign imports we get are just a shade too thin. Leakages have been increasing at a rate of almost four per cent a year-"

"That report will change the world," I said sarcastically, "I bet it'll be on the front page of the Daily Prophet, you know, leaky cauldrons."

Percy blushed a light pink. "You might mock it now, Max," he said heatedly, "But unless some sort of international law is passed, we might well find the market full of flimsy, shallow-bottomed products that can be extremely dangerous-"

"Yeah, whatever Percy. Have fun with that," I said, and I started walking up the stairs again as Percy slammed his bedroom door shut. As the others followed me up the stairs, there were loud shouts from downstairs. It sounds like Mr Weasley finally told Mrs Weasley about the toffees.

We walked into Ron's room, which was so orange I thought I had walked onto the sun. His room was covered in posters of Ron's favorite Quidditch team, the Chudley Cannons. On the windowsill, there was a huge tank with a massive frog, and instead of Ron's old rat Scabbers sitting on Ron's desk, it was the tiny owl that Sirius let Ron keep. It was hopping up and down in a cage, twittering madly.

"Shut up, Pig," Ron said madly, edging his way through the extra beds in the room. "Fang and Iggy are up here with us, 'cause Bill and Charlies taking their room. Percy gets his own room, because he has work to do, and Fred and George's room is full of boxes from all the joke stuff they have. Mum doesn't know there, they hide them whenever she's coming up the stairs."

"Why are you calling the owl Pig?" Harry asked, eyeing the owl.

"Because Ron's being silly," Angel said, sitting on the bed beside Harry, "His proper name is Pigwidgeon."

"Yeah, and that's not a stupid name at all," Ron said. "The girls named him. They think it's sweet. I tried changing it, but it was too late. He was already used to it. So now he's Pig. I have to keep him here because he annoys Hermes and Errol. He annoys me too, actually."

"Oh, Ron, shut up. He's adorable," Nudge said, feeding Pig some owl treats. He tweeted happily and started zooming around his cage loudly. We all knew Ron too well to actually take him seriously. Before, he had complained continuously about his rat Scabbers, but when everyone thought he had died, Ron had been very depressed about it and stopped talking to Hermione, believing her cat had eaten Scabbers.

"Where's Crookshanks?" Harry asked Hermione. "Out in the garden I think," Hermione said, "He's chasing gnomes. He loves them."

"So Percy's liking work then?" Harry asked.

"Liking it?" Fang said, smirking, "He wouldn't come home if Mr Weasley didn't make him."

"He's obsessed," Ron went on, rolling his eyes, "Don't mention his boss. According to Mr Crouch...As I was saying to Mr Crouch...Mr Crouch's opinion is...Mr Crouch was saying...I swear, any day now they'll be announcing their engagement."

"Had a good summer, Harry?" Hermione said, "Did you get the food parcels we sent?"

"Yeah, thanks a lot," Harry smiled, "Those cakes saved my life."

"And have you heard from-?" Ron started asking, but he feel silent when I glared at him. He was going to ask about Sirius. Whereas the flock knew all about Sirius (I couldn't keep that away from them) Ginny didn't know anything about it. We agreed not to tell her until Sirius was free.

"I think they stopped arguing," Iggy said, covering up the awkward moment, because Ginny was looking at all of us curiously. "Maybe we should go and help with dinner." And if Iggy was offering to help with something, it was serious.

"Yeah, okay," I said, and we walked out of Ron's orange room. Mrs Weasley was alone in the kitchen, extremely bad tempered.

"We're eating in the garden," Mrs Weasley said, "There just isn't room in here for seventeen people. Girls, could you take the plates and cutlery outside? Bill and Charlie are outside setting up the tables. Boys, you take out cups and drinks," she said, pointing her wand a little roughly at the potatoes in the sink, which shot out of their skins so fast they bounced off the walls.

"Oh, for heavens sake!" Mrs Weasley shouted, pointing her wand at the dustbin that went off, scooping up the potatoes. "Those two!" she snapped, pulling out pots and pans from the cupboard. "I don't know what's going to happen to them, I really don't. No ambition, unless you count causing as much trouble as they can..."

Mrs Weasley slammed a huge pot onto the counter, and began spinning her wand around.

"It's not as though they haven't got brains," she went on, taking the pot over to the stove, "But they're wasting them, and unless you they pull themselves together soon, they will be in real trouble. I've more owls from Hogwarts about them then everyone the others altogether. If they carry on the way they are, they'll end up in from the Improper Use of Magic Office."

Mrs Weasley pointed her wand at the cutlery drawer, and it shot open. I jumped out of the way as knives went shooting at my head, then went across the kitchen and started chopping potatoes. I shared a shocked look with Harry, who looked like he didn't know what to do.

"I don't know where we went wrong with them," Mrs Weasley said, pulling out more saucepans. "It's been the same for years, and they won't listen to- OH NOT AGAIN!"

She had picked up her wand from the counter, but it emitted a loud squeak and turned into a large rubber mouse.

"One of their fake wands!" Mrs Weasley shouted. "How many time have I told them not to leave them lying around?" She grabbed her real wand and started cooking the dinner again.

"Come on," the Gasman said, "We should help Bill and Charlie."

I grabbed a few plates, knives and forks and walked out into the garden. We had only gone a few steps when Hermione's ginger cat, Crookshanks, came running past us, chasing what looked like potatoes. I recognized it was a gnome. It ran forward and dived into the pair of Welligton boots outside the door.

Meanwhile, there was a loud crashing noise from the other side of the house. When we entered the garden, we saw what was making the noise. Bill and Charlie were had their wands out, and they were making the two tables smash into each other in the air, trying to knock the other's out of the air. Fred and George were cheering, Ginny, Angel and Nudge started laughing. Hermione looked torn between amusement and anxiety.

Bill's table caught Charlie's, and with a huge bang, it knocked off one of the legs. There was a clatter overhead, and we all looked up to see Percy's annoyed head sticking out of the window.

"Will you keep it down?" he shouted.

"Sorry, Perce," Charlie said, smirking at his brother, "How are the cauldron bottoms getting on?"

"Very badly," he snapped, then he slammed the window shut. Chuckling, Bill and Charlie put the tables back onto the ground. Bill fixed the leg of the table and conjured tablecloths out of nowhere.

By seven o'clock, everyone was sitting at the tables which were groaning under the weight of all the dishes.

At the end of the table, Percy was telling Mr Weasley all about his report on cauldron bottoms.

"I've told Mr Crouch I'd have it ready by Tuesday," Percy was saying. I looked at Nudge, who was sitting beside me, and we both rolled our eyes, then laughed. We stopped so we could hear what he was saying next, "It's a bit sooner then he expected, But I want to keep on top of things. I think he'll be grateful that I've done it in good time. Our department is very busy now, what with the Quidditch World Cup. We just aren't getting the support we need from the Department of Magical Games and Sports. Ludo Bagman-"

"I like Ludo," Mr Weasley said absently, making me think he wasn't really listening to what Percy was saying. "He was the one that got us all the tickets for the Cup. I did him a favor once. His brother got into a spot of trouble with a lawnmower that had unnatural powers. I smoothed the whole thing over for him."

"Oh, Bagman's likable enough," Percy said, "But how he got to be the Head of the Department... When I compare him to Mr Crouch! I can't see Mr Crouch losing a member of our department and not doing anything about it. You realize that Bertha Jorkins has been missing for over a month now? She went to Albania and never came back?"

Mr Weasley frowned, "Yes, I was asking Ludo about that. He says Bertha's gotten lost plenty of times before. Though, I must say, if it was anyone in my department I'd be worried."

"Oh, Bertha's hopeless alright," Percy said, "I hear she was shunted from department to department for years. Apparently she's more trouble then she's worth. But all the same, Bagman ought to be doing something to find her. She worked in our department at one time, and I think Mr Crouch was fond of her. He's taken a personal interest in the matter- but Bagman just keeps laughing and saying she must of misread her map, and ended up in Australia instead of Albania. However-" Percy sighed impressively, his eyes flicking towards Harry, Hermione, Ron, the twins and the flock, "Our department is busy enough without having to look for people in other departments. As you know father, we have another huge event to organize right after the World Cup."

Percy cleared his throat, staring at all the younger ones at the table. "You know the one I'm talking about. The top-secret one."

Gazzy, who was sitting in front of me, rolled his eyes. "Ever since he started work, he's been trying to get us to ask what the event is. Probably something to do with thick cauldron bottoms," he explained to Harry and Hermione. We all snickered, and the Gasman seemed happy that he had said something to make us all laugh. My little trooper.

Mrs Weasley was arguing with Bill about his earring. "...with a horrible great fang in it," she was saying. "Really, Bill what do they say at the bank?"

"Mum, no one cares what I wear as long as I take back loads of treasure," Bill said patiently. It clearly wasn't the first time Mrs Weasley wanted to change something in Bill's appearance.

"And your hair is getting silly dear," she said, "I wish you'd let me cut it..."

"I like it," Ginny said,grinning at her eldest brother, "Your so old fashioned Mum. Besides, it's nowhere near as long as Dumbledore's." I caught Fang looking at Ginny with a goofy smile on his face. And Fang doesn't do anything goofy. Hmm...

Next to Mrs Weasley, Fred, George and Charlie were discussing the World Cup. "It's got to be Ireland **_(AN: WHOOP!) _**," Charlie said, cutting up his potato. "They flattened Peru in the semifinals."

"Yeah, but Bulgaria have Krum," George said. "Krum's one decent player, but Ireland have seven amazing players," Charlie said shortly. "I wish England had gotten through though. That was embarrassing..."

"What happened?" Harry asked. I groaned, shaking my head. "We lost to Transylvania. Three hundred and ninety to ten," I said gloomily.

Me, Harry, Fred and George are all on the Gryffindor Quidditch team. I was a Chaser, Harry was a Seeker, and Fred and George were the Beaters. Harry had the best broom there is, a Firebolt. Sirius had sent it to him. Sirius wasn't only my dad, he was also Harry's godfather. I had a Nimbus Two Thousand, the next best thing to a Firebolt. Seeing as I could already fly without a broomstick, flying on my Nimbus was second nature.

Before we had ice cream, Mr Weasley lit the candles around the garden before it got dark. I was feeling well fed by the time we were finished, which wasn't a surprise seeing as I had four bowls of ice cream.

Ron looked up and down the table to see if anyone was looking, then leaned in closer to Harry. "So have you heard from Sirius?" he asked.

"Yeah," Harry said, "Twice." He turned to look at me. "Have you heard from him?"

"A bit. He sent me a few letters telling me him and Buckbeak were fine. That's it."

"I wrote to him yesterday," Harry said, "He might write back while I'm here." Then a strange look crossed his face. He seemed to be thinking over something.

"Look at the time," Mrs Weasley said, standing up. "The lot of you really should be in bed. You need to be up at the crack of dawn for the Cup. Harry, if you leave your book list out, I'll get all your things in Diagon Alley tomorrow. I'm getting everyone else's too. There mightn't be time after the match. The last one went on for three days!"

"Wow- hope it does this time!" Iggy said happily.

"Well I certainly don't," Percy said, "I shudder to think what my in-tray will look like if I'm away or three days."

"Yeah, someone might send you some dragon dung, eh, Perce?" Fred said, smiling.

"That was a sample of fertilizer from Norway!" Percy snapped. "It was nothing personal!"

"It actually was," George whispered to us as we walked back into the Burrow. "We sent it."

_**Hello! Sorry this chapter took so long to upload! I've been really busy!**_

___**Anyway, I hope everyone enjoyed reading it. **_

___**Free cookies and butterbeer to everyone that reviews! :) so...**_

_**REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW!**_

_**-Rach ;)**_


	3. The Porkey

_**AUTHORS NOTE :P**_

_**I feel very stupid. **_

_** Roxie reviewed on the last chapter asking where Total was. **_

**_I freaking forgot about Total. _**

**_I'm so used not writing about him that he completely slipped my mind. I am very sorry. _**

**_God, I'm an idiot... _**

**_Okay, so lets just say Total was in the last chapter, being a normal dog. No one knows he can talk yet. _**

**_I apologize for being so stupid. Won't happen again. I hope. _**

**_Thanks Roxie, for pointing it out. _**

**_Now to answer some reviews..._**

**_Arkell26: I'm not sure. I won't let it go for too long without updating, though. _**

**_AnikaandAj: I couldn't agree with you more :D_**

**_Anyway, here's the second chapter._**

**_Oh, yeah and Happy Easter!_**

**_Enjoy!_**

**_-Rach ;)_**

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><p><strong><em>Max's POV<em>**

It felt like I had just fallen asleep when I was being shaken awake by Mrs Weasley.

"Time to get up, Max," she said, she whispered, moving over to wake Hermione, who was sleeping in my room. I sat up, yawning and stretching. I looked out my window and groaned. It was still dark outside.

Hermione climbed out of her camp bed, half asleep. "I'll leave you to get dressed. Be quick," Mrs Weasley said, walking out of my room.

Silently, too tired to talk, Hermione and I got dressed. I pulled on black skinny jeans, a plain purple sleeveless top, and a baggy hoodie. Hermione was wearing blue jeans and a red sweater.

Just as I was running a brush through my hair, the door opened and Nudge, Ginny and Angel stumbled in, followed by the small black Scottie Total, their eyes heavy with sleep.

"Max, will you button up my shirt? Nudge is too tired and she keeps messing it up," Angel said sweetly, her huge, innocent blue eyes gazing at me. "Of course sweetie," I said bending down and buttoning up her shirt. "Thanks," she said when I was finished.

I turned around and saw Nudge lying on my bed, fast asleep again. Out of all the flock, she's the hardest to wake up. "Nudge, wake up. Get out of my bed," I said. She slept on, Total lying down beside her.

"I'll wake her up," Angel said, sitting beside Nudge on the bed. I waited for her to do something, but Angel just stared at Nudge, concentrating. "Sweetie, what are you-?" I started, but Angel said, "Shh." Then she kept staring at Nudge.

After another seconds, Nudge started stirring, then she woke up. Me and Hermione stared at Angel, eyes wide. "How did you do that?" Ginny asked, jaw hanging open. "I just, well, you know... thought to Nudge to wake up. And she did," Angel said as if it wasn't a big deal.

"You thought to her. To wake up," I said. Angel nodded. "So, you, like, controlled Nudge?" I asked.

"I wouldn't say controlled," Angel said. What she would call it, we wouldn't know, because at that moment, Mrs Weasley came back into my room. "Girls, hurry on. The boys are all downstairs. You've got to eat quickly, then leave." She patted her leg and Total bounded off my bed and followed Mrs Weasley.

We walked out after her, Nudge wide awake. I was eyeing Angel suspiciously. Had her mind reading powers expanded? Was she now able to control people, using her mind? Were the rest of the flock going to get new abilities?

We walked down the stairs into the kitchen. Harry, Ron, Fang, Iggy, the Gasman, and Fred and George were already sitting at the table, eating breakfast. Starving, I sat down beside Harry, helping myself to a plate full of toast and eggs.

"Why do we have to get up so early?" Ginny asked, rubbing her eyes.

"We've got a bit to walk," Mr Weasley said.

"We're walking to the World Cup?" Nudge asked.

"No, no," Mr Weasley said, "It's miles away. We only need to walk a short way. It's very difficult for large numbers of our kind to get together and go unnoticed by Muggles. We have to be careful about the way we travel, and with something as huge as the Quidditch World Cup..."

"George!" Mrs Weasley suddenly shouted, and everyone jumped.

"What?" George said, trying to look innocent.

"What's that in your pocket?"

"Nothing."

"Don't lie to me!" Mrs Weasley said, pulling out her wand and pointing it at George's pocket. _"Accio!" _she said. Several, small, brightly colored objects zoomed from George's pocket. He made an effort to grab them, but missed and they went right into Mrs Weasley's hand.

"We told you to destroy them!" Mrs Weasley said madly, holding up all the Ton-Tongue Toffees. "We told you to get rid of the lot! Empty your pockets! The two of you!"

It wasn't a nice scene. The twins had stuffed their pockets full of as many Ton-Tongue Toffees as they could.

"We spent six months making them!" Fred said.

"Oh, a fine way to spend six months!" Mrs Weasley shouted, "No wonder you didn't get more OWL.s!"

Mrs Weasley even checked Iggy and Gazzy's pockets, knowing they helped Fred and George. She found another dozen joke stuff in their pockets and bags, along with some explosives.

So it wasn't a happy atmosphere when we had finished breakfast. Mrs Weasley was still fuming when Mr Weasley kissed her cheek, though not as much as the twins, who had taken their bags and walked out into the garden without a word to their mother. Iggy and the Gasman didn't seem too annoyed at Mrs Weasley. They were used to me taken their bombs away.

"Have a lovely time," Mrs Weasley called after us. "And behave yourself!" she called after the twins. "I'll send Bill, Charlie and Percy around midday," she said as the rest of us walked into the garden.

It was cold and the moon was still in the sky. Total the dog seemed to be enjoying himself. He was running around the garden, barking and growling happily at the gnomes.

Harry, who was walking beside me, started walking faster so he could catch up with Mr Weasley. Ther rest of us jogged over to join him, just as Harry was asking, "So how do all the wizards get to the World Cup without Muggles noticing?"

"It's been a massive problem," Mr Weasley said. "About a hundred thousand wizards will turn up at the World Cup, and we haven't got a space big enough for them all. There are places Muggles can't get to, but try fitting that many people into Diagon Alley, or platform nine and three-quarters. So we had to find a nice, big, deserted moore, and put as many anti-Muggle spells around it as we could. The whole Ministry's been working on it for months. Some wizards arrive at the camp two weeks before hand, and a limited number use Muggle transportation. But we can't have too many of our kind on the buses or trains or taxis. Others Apparate, and we have to set up a safe spot for them to land. For those who aren't Apparating, or can't- they use Porkeys."

"What's a Porkey?" the Gasman asked.

"They're objects that take a wizard from one spot to another at an arranged time. There have more then two hundred Porkeys placed around Britain, and the closest one to us in one top of Stoatshead Hill, so that's where we're going."

"What sort of objects are Porkeys?" Harry asked.

"Well they can be anything," Mr Weasley said. "Unobtrusive things, obviously, so Muggles don't go picking them up and playing with them. Stuff they'll think is litter."

We walked down through the village, the only sound around us were our footsteps. I itched to whip out my wings, and just fly to the World Cup, and when I asked Mr Weasley if we could, he said no because we have to stay together. So the flock walked on with the Weasley, Harry and Hermione, sulking.

"Don't worry guys," I whispered to them, "We'll get to fly together again before Hogwarts. Don't worry about it."

"And Total can come with us," Angel said, stroking the little black dog that was in her arms. "Er- yeah, of course," I said. I still didn't trust that dog. It was because of him we went back to the School in the first place. Angel went running after him, I went running after her, then we were knocked out by whitecoats. Stupid dog...

The sky was lighting very slowly, the pitch blackness turning into a dark blue. Mr Weasley kept checking his watch.

When we finally reached the hill, I turned to Mr Weasley. "Can we at least fly up that hill?" I had already looked at the surrounding houses and building. No one else as even awake yet. "Fine," Mr Weasley said, giving in. He was so much easier then Mrs Weasley. "But be careful and don't be seen!"

"Yeah, okay," Iggy said, pulling off his jumper. The rest of the flock did the same, then at the exact same time, the six of us snapped out our wings.

Mine were thirteen feet across, brown with white patches on the downy feathers. Fang and Iggy's were fourteen feet wide, but where Fang's were pitch black, the same as his hair and eyes, Iggy's were a mix of white and grey. The Gasman's wings were a light brown, whereas Angel (his sister- they were the only blood related siblings in the flock) 's were snowy white, like Harry's owl Hedwig. Out of the whole flock though, I think Nudge's wings were the most beautiful. They were eleven feet wide, and a dark tawny color, matching her mocha colored skin.

I took a running start, the flock following, and after a few steps, we flew into the air, leaving the Weasleys, Harry and Hermione staring at us on the ground. Seeing as it would take a while for them to climb the large hill, I called, "Let's fly around the village! Stay high!"

We flew up towards the clouds, looking down at the tiny village called Ottery St. Catchpole. "Whoo!" the Gasman shouted, as he dive-bombed down towards the ground, then snapped open his wings again. "Gazzy! Keep it down!" I called to him.

"Sorry!" he shouted.

But I really couldn't find it in me to get annoyed at him. The feeling of flying was just incredible. To all the people that have wished of flying, your wish makes sense. It's the best feeling in the world. You feel as light as the air around you, nothing's bothering you, there's no traffic, and you just feel...peaceful. Which means something, coming from me.

We flew for a good few minutes, before Angel said, "Max, we should get back to the hill. But there are other people there- I don't know who they are."

"That's okay," I said, trying to push down the fear of new people. "We just have to land away from the top, and climb a little bit up."

Reluctantly, the flock flew back down to the hill. We landed on the side of the hill, pulled in our wings and put our jumpers back on, then climbed up to the top.

Mr Weasley was talking to a man with a scrubby beard, and in his hand was a moldy boot. Beside the man was Cedric Diggory, a seventh year Hufflepuff at Hogwarts. He was also the Seeker and Captain of the Hufflepuff Quidditch Team. Oh, yeah- and he was really hot. Just saying.

"Hi," Cedric said to everyone as Mr Weasley introduced us all to Cedric and his dad, Amos Diggory.

Everyone said hi back, except for Fred and George, who clearly hadn't forgiven Cedric for beating Gryffindor at the first match last year, and Fang, who just never talked unless it was important.

"Long walk, Arthur?" Amos Diggory asked. "Not too bad. We only live on the other side of the village. You?" Mr Weasley answered.

"We had to get up at two in the morning, didn't we Ced?" he said, "I tell you, I'll be glad when he has his Apparation test. Still though, it was worth it. Quidditch World Cup, isn't it? Wouldn't miss it for a sackful of Galleons..." He looked around at everyone that was there, then asked, "All these yours, Arthur?"

"No, just the redheads," Mr Weasley said, grinning. "Molly and I adopted those six," he said, pointing at the flock, "And these are the kids friends from school, Hermione, and Harry," he said, pointing at Hermione and Harry.

"Harry..." Amos whispered, eyes widening. "Merlins beard... Harry Potter?"

"Yeah," Harry said awkwardly, blushing a small bit. I noticed Diggory's eyes going to Harry's forehead, like everyone does when they first meet Harry, to see the lightening scar that Lord Voldemort left him when he tried to kill him.

"Ced's talked about you of course," Diggory said. I saw Cedric shifting from foot to foot, looking at him dad with a strange look on his face. "Told us all about you playing against each other last year...I said to him, Ced, that'll be something to tell your grandchildren, that will! You beat Harry Potter!"

Harry didn't say anything, and Fred and George were scowling again. Cedric was looking embarrassed.

"Dad, I told you Harry feel off his broom," Cedric said, looking at Harry apologetically. "It was an accident."

"Yes, but you didn't fall of the broom, did you Cedric?" Diggory said, grinning proudly at his son. Could this guy get anymore annoying?

"Always modest, our Ced," Diggory went on, "Always the gentleman...but the best man won, and I'm sure Harry would agree. One man falls off his broom, and the other stays on. Doesn't take a genius to figure out whos the better flyer!"

Before I could tell him where he could stuff Cedric's broom, Mr Weasley said, "It's almost time. Are we waiting for any more, Amos?"

"Not that I know of," Diggory said, "Let's see... The Lovegood's got there last week... The Fawcett's couldn't get tickets...There aren't anymore are there?"

"I don't think so," Mr Weasley said, "Right, a minute left...Let's get ready."

Mr Weasley looked around at us. "You just have to touch it," Mr Weasley said. "Just touch it. One finger, that's all."

With difficulty, the fifteen of us crowded around the old boot. We all stood in a tight circle, the wind blowing my fringe everywhere. I was pressed in between Cedric and Harry, my index finger just barely touching the boot.

"Three..." Mr Weasley said, looking at his watch, "Two...One!"

It happened so fast; It felt like a hook just went into my stomach and I was jerked forward. My feet left the ground, and I was reminded of the time Harry and I got pulled into young Voldemort's memories through the diary he was using to possess me.

I could feel Harry and Cedric beside me, their shoulders banging into me; we were all speeding around in a wind of noise and color and then-

My feet touched the ground. Ron staggered and fell over. I looked around, realizing that everyone else was on the ground except for Mr Weasley, Cedric and Diggory.

"Seven past five from Stoatshead Hill!" a voice shouted.

* * *

><p><em><strong>I know the chapter is short, and nothing really happens, but thats because... the Quidditch World Cup is next! Yay!<strong>_

_**So I hope everyone enjoyed the chapter!**_

_**Free butterbeer and cookies, and because its Easter, an Easter Egg to everyone that reviews so...**_

_**REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW!**_

_**-Rach ;)**_


	4. Bagman and Crouch

_**AUTHORS NOTE :P**_

_**Getting closer to the actual World Cup match...**_

_**Now to answer some reviews...**_

_**AnkiaandAj: In my story, Angel isn't going to go psycho. Sorry :/ good idea though, with Angel joining Voldemort... but not in my story, I'm sorry.**_

_**Quail Sandwich: Read and find out...**_

_**anonymous: I know its spelled Portkey. I made a mistake. And yes, I watched the movie, but I've also read several times. I just made a mistake, and mispelled something. Sorry. **_

_**Philip: Yeah, I know. I always get confused with them... Although, I'd rather not get a beta for my own reasons. Maybe you could explain it to me? I never know the difference with homophones. Sorry if it annoyed you. I've never had a good English teacher, so it's difficult for me to understand the difference. So do you think you could explain them to me? I'd really appreciate it :)**_

_**So without further ado, here's the chapter :)**_

_**Enjoy!**_

_**-Rach ;)**_

* * *

><p><em><strong>Max's POV<strong>_

I unwrapped my legs from Harry's, and jumped to my feet. We had landed in deserted, misty moore. In front of us were two extremely grumpy looking wizard, one was holding a watch, and the other a thick piece of parchment and a quill. Clearly, they had tried to dress like Muggles, but they weren't as successful as Mr Weasley had been. While Mr Weasley was wearing a faded pair of jeans, and a golfers jumper, the wizard with the parchment was wearing a tweed suit, and the other one was wearing a multi-colored kilt and a poncho.

I saw Nudge staring at the two wizards, disgusted. Nudge was obsessed with fashion, and seeing these two men in public wearing something like that was probably a great personal insult to her.

"Morning, Basil," Mr Weasley said to the man in the kilt. Nudge wrinkled her nose again. Mr Weasley picked up the boot and threw it into the box beside the wizards. In the box were other used Portkeys, like footballs and old newspapers.

"Hello, Arthur," Basil said, tiredly. "Not on duty, eh? It's alright for a few people. We've been here all night. You better get out of the way, there's a huge party coming in from the Black Forest at five fifteen. Hang on, I'll find your campsite- Weasley, Weasley..." he looked at his list, "About a quarter miles walk over that way. First field you get to. Ask for Mr Roberts, he's the site manager. Diggory...Second field...ask for Mr Payne."

"Thanks, Basil," Mr Weasley said.

We set off across the deserted moore, unable to see much in the heavy mist. After about twenty minutes of walking, we spotted a low stone wall, with a gate, beside a small cottage. Beyond it, there were hundreds and hundreds of tents. We said goodbye to the Diggorys, and approached the cottage.

A man was standing at the door, staring out at the tents. I could tell this man was a real Muggle. When he heard our footsteps, he turned to look at us.

"Morning!" Mr Weasley said cheerfully.

"Morning," the Muggle said, a vacant look in his eyes.

"Would you be Mr Roberts?" Mr Weasley asked.

"Aye, I would," Mr Roberts said, "And who would you be?"

"Weasley-three tents, booked a few days ago?"

"Aye," Mr Roberts said, checking his list. "You've got a space right by the woods. Just the one night?"

"That's it," Mr Weasley said, suddenly looking nervous.

"You'll be paying now then?" Mr Roberts asked.

"Ah-yes, certainly," Mr Weasley said, looking extremely nervous now. I knew why though. Mr Weasley didn't know Muggle money very well, so he was nervous about paying Mr Roberts.

He walked a bit away from the cottage, making it look like he had to get the money from his rucksack. He beckoned Harry over with him.

"Help me!" I heard him moan. He pulled out a fat roll of Muggle money, pulling the notes away from each other. "That's a- a ten, yes? Ah, yes I see the little number... And this is a five?"

"Twenty," Harry said, looking uncomfortable. Probably because Mr Roberts was listening to every word.

"Ah yes, so it is...I don't know, these bits of paper..." Mr Weasley said.

"You foreign?" Mr Roberts asked.

"Foreign?" Mr Weasley said, confused.

"Your not the first to have trouble with the money," Mr Roberts said, "I had two try to pay me with large gold coins not ten minutes ago."

"Did you really?" Mr Weasley said nervously.

"Well, yes, we're foreign," I said. The others stared at me, but I went on, "We're American," I said. Seeing as I my old American accent was still a bit stronger then the English one the flock were starting to get, it seemed believable.

"American? Right..." Mr Roberts said, rummaging around for change. "It's never been this crowded," Mr Roberts went on. "Hundreds of pre-bookings. Usually, people just turn up..."

"Is that right?" Mr Weasley said uncomfortably.

"Aye," Mr Roberts said, staring at the tent, "People from all over. Foreigners. Weirdos as well, you know. Bloke walking around here wearing a kilt and poncho."

"Shouldn't he?" Mr Weasley asked, reaching for his change, but Mr Roberts didn't give it to him.

"It's like a... I dunno, a sort of rally," Mr Roberts said, "They all seem to know each other. Like a party. A huge party."

At that moment, a wizard in plus-fours (Nudge looked like she was going to be sick) appeared out of nowhere beside Mr Roberts in his cottage.

"_Obliviate!_" he said, pointing his wand at Mr Roberts. Instantly, Mr Roberts eyes slid out of focus, and a look of dreamy unconcern came over his face. I was able to recognize the look of someone that had just got their memory modified.

"A map of the campsite for you," he said, handing Mr Weasley a map. "And your change."

"Thanks very such," Mr Weasley said.

The wizard in plus-fours accompanied us to the gate of the campsite. He looked exhausted. Once we were out of earshot of Mr Roberts, the wizard said, "Been having a lot of trouble with him. Needs a memory charm ten times a day to keep him quiet. And Ludo Bagman isn't helping. Strolling around shouting about Bludgers and Quaffles at the top of his voice, not worrying at all about any anti-Muggle security. Blimey, I'll be glad when this is over... See you later, Arthur," he said, then walked back to Mr Roberts cottage.

"I thought Mr Bagman was the Head of Magical Sports and Games," Ginny said, "Shouldn't he know better then to talk about Bludgers and near Muggles?"

"He should," Mr Weasley said, walking through the gate towards all the tents. "But Ludo's always been a bit...relaxed about things like that. You couldn't ask for a more energetic Head of Department. Used to play Quidditch, himself, Ludo. Best Beater the Wimbourne Wasps ever had."

We walked through the misty field between long rows of tents. The tents were normal enough. Clearly the owners thought they'd make them as Muggle as possible, but they failed bu adding chimneys, or bellpulls, or weather vanes. Although, there were some tents that were so obviously magical I wasn't surprised Mr Roberts was getting suspicious. Halfway up the field stood something that could only be called a miniature palace, with several live peacocks outside.

A few several feet away from that one, was a tent with loads of turrets and three floors; further up from that was a tent with a huge front garden, complete with bird bath, fountain and sundial.

"Always the same," Mr Weasley said as I picked Angel up and placed her on my hip, "We can't help showing off when we get together. Ah here, look this is us."

We had walked to the very edge of the forest where there was an empty space with a small sign hammered into the ground saying _WEEZLY. _

"Couldn't have a better spot," Mr Weasley said, taking his bag off his shoulder and leaving in on the ground, "The pitch is right on the other side of the wood there. We couldn't get any closer. Right!" he said excitedly, opening his bag, "No magic allowed, strictly speaking, not when there are this many wizards in a Muggle site. We'll be putting these tents up by hand!"

The flock grinned at each other. We could all make tents with our eyes closed.

"Shouldn't be too hard. Muggles do it all the time...Here, Harry, where should we start?" Mr Weasley said. I stared in amusement at the look on Harry's face. He didn't have the slightest clue how to make a tent. This should be fun.

With the flocks help (in other words, the flock did all the work) the three tents were built within twenty minutes. We would of been faster if George and Gazzy didn't start a fight about who's water bottle was whos.

When we stepped back to look at our handiwork, we all seemed to notice a problem at the same time. The three tents were pretty small, and once Bill, Charlie and Percy got here, there would be sixteen of us. I shared a look with Hermione, who was looking quizzical.

"We'll be a bit cramped," Mr Weasley said. "The biggest tent is for the boys. Meaning that Fred, George, Ron, Fang, Iggy, Gazzy and Harry will be in there. The second tent is for the girls- Ginny, Max, Hermione, Nudge and Angel. The third tent if for myself, Bill, Charlie and Percy. Got it?"

We nodded and Mr Weasley said, "I think we'll all squeeze. Let's go in."

I ducked under the tent flap to the biggest tent, and my jaw dropped. You'd think after four years, I'd be used to all the different things magic could do. Guess I wasn't.

It looked like I had just walked into a three room flat, with bedrooms, a kitchen and a bathroom, with a shower. It looked like it belonged to an old person, and it smelled like it as well. There was also a strong smell of cats.

"Well, it's not for long," Mr Weasley said. "Borrowed it from Perkin's in the office. He doesn't camp much anymore," he said, looking at the bunk beds in one of the bedrooms. He picked up the kettle and said, "We're going to need to get water..."

"There's a tap marked on the map the Muggle gave us," Ron said, seeming unimpressed by the tent. "It's on the other side of the field."

"Why don't the flock, you, Harry and Hermione go get water? We're going to need a lot," Mr Weasley said. "And the rest of us will get wood for fire."

"But we've got an oven," Iggy said, "Why can't we just-?"

"No, Iggy," Mr Weasley said, "Anti-Muggle security! When real Muggle's camp, they on fires outdoors! I've seen it!"

When we had a tour of the other tents (the girls tent didn't smell like cats, thank God) we set off to get water with kettles and saucepans, Nudge chatting away happily.

Now that the sun had fully risen, we were able to see the city of tents that were stretched in every direction. We walked slowly through the tents, staring around us eagerly. It only seemed to be dawning on me now that there must be wizards and witches in different countries other then England.

Other campers were only starting to wake up now. I noticed the first to wake up were the families with young kids. Watching the little kids running around made me smile, and my smile broadened when Angel took my hand. She looked really tired, and was falling behind, so I picked her up again. She smiled at me, and I grinned. Then she started giggling. "What is it?" I asked, hoping Iggy wasn't having any dirty thoughts or anything.

She pointed to a pyramid shaped tent, and sitting outside it was a boy no older then two, giggling happily like Angel and poking a slug in the grass with a wand, and the slug was swelling to the size of a salami.

As we drew level with him, his mother came hurrying out of the tent.

"How many times, Kevin? You don't touch Daddy's wand- yecch!"

The mother had walked right onto the giant slug, which burst under her foot. Nudge mimed pucking. Her shouts followed us as we walked on, as well as Kevin's yells, "You burst slug! You burst slug!"

A bit further on, we saw two little girls, maybe a little older then Kevin, on toy broomsticks that were hovering a few feet off the ground so that the girls toes barely touched the grass. A Ministry wizard came hurrying past us, muttering, "Out in broad daylight! The parents are probably having a lie-in I suppose-"

All around us, adult wizards and witches were emerging from their tents, cooking breakfast. Some, looking around them, using magic to cook. Others were using matches and lighters with confused, or dubious looks, as though thinking they couldn't work.

I slowed down a bit when I heard some American witches talking to each other under a banner that read, _THE SALEM WITCHES INSTITUTE. _I never knew there was a magic school in America... If there was, why did we all have to come to England? Well, it sounded like the Salem Institute was only for witches...

We caught snatches of conversations in languages I've never even heard before.

"Er- Is it me, or has everything turned green?" Fang asked.

I guess it wasn't. Everything around us was green. The tents were covered in giant shamrocks, and happy, excited voices could be heard through the tents. Then we heard someone shouting from behind us.

"Guys! Hey guys!" We turned around and saw Seamus Finnigan, another Gryffindor fourth year. He was sitting in front of his own shamrock covered tent with a sandy-haired woman who had to be his mother, and Dean Thomas, his best friend and another Gryffindor in our year.

"Like the decorations?" Seamus said, grinning, "The Ministry isn't too happy."

"Ah, why shouldn't we show our colors?" Mrs Finnigan said, with an Irish accent. "You should see what the Bulgarians have over their tents. You'll be supporting Ireland, of course?" she asked. We nodded, and the Gasman said, "Yeah, Irelands cool! They have, like, leprechauns and everything!"

Seeing as I didn't know if leprechauns were real or not, I wasn't sure how Mrs Finnigan would take it. But she laughed happily, and said, "Yes, leprechauns. Never get too close to one, though. They like kicking people's shins and taking their money."

After assuring Mrs Finnigan that we were all going to support Ireland, we left again. "I wonder what Bulgaria have over their tents," Harry said. "Let's go find out," Iggy said, pointing to a large patch of tents where the Bulgarian flag was flapping in the wind.

The tents in the Bulgarian side had not been covered in flowers, but with pictures of a cranky looking guy with thick eyebrows. But, if you took away the cranky expression, he was quite handsome. It looked like Hermione thought so too. She was staring at the closest poster of the dude, doing a goofy grin and there was a slight blush creeping on her cheeks.

Nudge and I shared a look, and grinned. Nudge giggled, and Hermione looked away from the poster, blushing deep crimson.

"Krum," Ron said quietly. "What?" Angel asked.

"Krum!" Ron said, "Viktor Krum! The Bulgarian Seeker!"

"He looks really grumpy," I said, surveying Krum in the poster.

"Really grumpy?" Ron said, mouth hanging open, "Who cares what he looks like? He's unbelievable! He's really young, too. Only like, seventeen, or eighteen or something. He's a genius. Just wait till tonight and see for yourself. Grumpy!"

"I think someone has a man crush," Nudge said. "I do not!" Ron snapped.

"We'll just wait till tonight and see," I said, raising my eyebrows. Ron glared at me, and I winked at him.

There was already a small queue at the water tap. We joined it, behind two older wizards who were having an argument. One of them was wearing a pinstriped suit, and holding a pair of trousers in his hand. The other was wearing a long, flowery nightgown.

"Just put them on, Archie, there's a good lad. You can't walk around like that! The Muggle at the gate is already getting suspicious-" said the wizard with the pinstriped suit.

"I bought these in a Muggle shop," Archie said, "Therefore, Muggles wear them."

"Muggle women, Archie," exasperated the other wizard, "Not men. The men wear these."

"I'm not putting them on," Archie said, "I like a nice healthy breeze around my privates, thanks."

Hermione, Nudge, Angel and me started laughing and giggling so much we had to step away from the line. "He-likes-a-breeze-in-his-privates!" Nudge said, laughing so much she on the floor.

When we had recovered (it took some time. We aren't very mature) we walked calmly back to the line. Archie and the other wizard were gone, so we brought all the kettles and saucepans over to the tap and filled them all. When we were finished, we walked back to the campsite, slower now then before because of all the extra weight with the water. On the way back we saw some familiar faces from Hogwarts.

We saw Oliver Wood, the old Gryffindor Quidditch Captain, who dragged me and Harry over to his parents to introduce us. Then he told us that he was now the Keeper for the Puddlemore United reserve team. Next, we saw Ernie Macmillian, who frankly always annoyed me, who was a Hufflepuff fourth year, then a further on we saw Cho Chang, a Ravenclaw fifth year. She smiled and waved at Harry, who smiled back and spilled water all down his front. I glared at Cho as we walked passed, but she didn't see me.

I spent nearly twenty minutes talking to Ethan , a Ravenclaw fourth year who was really good-looking. He was caramel brown eyes, and light brown hair that was always in his eyes, and he always seemed to have a tan, but it wasn't any where near as dark as Fang's. Ethan introduced me to his parents. Two years ago, Ethan's little sister Lucy died. Even now, his parents seemed distant and not really there. That was when I noticed all three of them seemed skinnier then that was normal. And Ethan's father looked like he had a serious hangover.

"Max! Hurry up!" Fang shouted from behind me. "Sorry," I said, "I should go. It was nice meeting you," I said to Ethan's parents.

"You too, dear," Ethan's mom said, though she wasn't even looking at me.

"I'll see you at Hogwarts," I said to Ethan. "Yeah," he said, his eyes sad looking. "Bye Max."

I walked back to the others, deep in thought. I wasn't even listening to the others talking.

"Wow, Max, you never told me St James' dad was a drunk," Iggy said. Even though I knew Iggy was only joking, and I know he didn't want to be mean, I still snapped at him. "Don't say that! You don't know what goes on in their life! Don't ever say that! Just-don't."

I never told them about Ethan's sister. No one knows about it. I'm not even sure if his friends from Ravenclaw knew about Lucy.

"Sorry," Iggy said, looking over his shoulder at Ethan's tent. They had gone back inside their tent, even though everyone else was sitting outside their tents, enjoying the bright morning.

"Who do you reckon they are?" Harry asked, looking at a group of teenagers that were standing outside their tent that didn't look familiar. "They don't go to Hogwarts, do they?"

"They probably go to some foreign school," Ron said, "I know there are others. Never met anyone that went to another one. Bill had a penpal in Brazil, but this was years and years ago...and he wanted Bill to go on an exchange, but Mum and Dad didn't have the money for it. His penpal got all offended when he said he wasn't going and sent him a cursed hat. It made his ears shrivel up."

We laughed, and I noticed that Iggy was staring at me with a weird expression. I let the others walked ahead, and when Iggy went to walk in front of me, I grabbed his arm and pulled him back. "Listen, Ig. I-"

"I get it Max. You care too much about people, and you feel you need to protect them. Why else do you think the flock's lived this long? Because of you. You've kept us all alive. Don't say sorry. I get it. I won't be such as idiot next time. I'm sorry for what I said about Ethan's dad."

I smiled at Iggy and said, "I really am sorry though. If I ever say something like that again, just slap some sense into me, okay?"

Iggy laughed and said, "Whatever you say, Max."

"You guys took your time," George said when we walked back into the Weasley's tent.

"We met a few people," I said, "We have friends, you know?"

Fred and George stared at me. "What?" Fred said. "Maximum Ride? Having friends other then these people?" George said, pointing at the flock, Harry, Ron and Hermione. I rolled my eyes and pushed back them, leaving the saucepans I was carrying on the table in the kitchen.

"Have you not started the fire yet?" Nudge asked.

"No," Ginny said, walking out from the bathroom and pulling her red hair into a ponytail. "Dad's having too much with the matches."

"Oh God," the Gasman said, walking outside the tent. "What?" I said, following him.

"Don't trust Mr Weasley with matches or lighters or- well, anything to do with fire," Gazzy said.

We went to the side of the tent, where Mr Weasley was having absolutely no success with lighting the fire, but it wasn't because he wasn't trying hard enough. It was because he kept messing with the matches. Used and splintered matches littered the floor around him, but he looked like he was having the time of his life.

"Oops!" he cried in surprise, as he lit one, then dropped it.

"Come here, Mr Weasley," Hermione said kindly, kneeling beside Mr Weasley and taking the box of matches from Mr Weasley. As we got the fire lighting, it was another hour before we could actually cook anything. There was plenty to watch as we waited though. Ministry members kept hurrying passed our tent, saying a quick hello to Mr Weasley as they ran passed.

Just before we were able to eat, Angel cried, "Max! Where's Fang?"

"He's right-" I started, but the words got caught in my mouth. I thought Fang was right beside me, but when I looked, he was gone.

"Fang?" I said, standing up and looking around. "Where is he?" Iggy asked, looking very worried. "Fang?" Ginny said quietly, looking terrified.

"Guys I'm right here!" came Fang's voice from behind me. I turned around, but there wasn't anyone there.

"Where?" I cried.

"Right here!" Fang said again. I felt a hand on mine, and then suddenly Fang was there.

"Were you wearing Harry's Invisibility Cloak?" I asked, my heart beating painfully fast in my chest.

"No! I was sitting right there! Nothing was covering me. How come you couldn't see me?" Fang said.

"Maybe it's a new skill," Gazzy said.

"Think of being invisible," Nudge said.

Fang scrunched his face in concentration. Oh, I wish Colin Creevey was here right so that I could take a picture of this..

"Am I invisible?" Fang asked, his face still scrunched up.

"No. You look constipated though," Ron said, snickering.

"Shut up," Fang said, sitting down again.

We all sat down again, waiting for our food to cook. A few minutes later, Fang was gone from sight again.

"Seriously, Fang, this is getting really old," I snapped.

"I'm not doing anything!" Fang said hotly, then suddenly he was there. Not an Invisibility Cloak in sight. And I could see his wand on the table in the kitchen from where I was sitting.

"How are you doing that?" I asked.

"I don't know," Fang said.

"Try staying still for a few minutes," Hermione suggested. And so Fang did, while everyone crowded around him so the people walking around couldn't see him. He remained motionless on his chair, with everyone staring at him. After a few minutes, he disappeared.

"THAT IS SO COOL!" The Gasman shouted so loud that everyone around us stared. "Shh!" I hissed.

"I got a new skill," Fang said, looking as if nothing interesting had just happened.

"What do you mean, new skill?" Harry asked.

"Some of us have skills," I explained. "You know that Angel can read minds. I don't know if we ever told you that Gazzy can mimic any sound perfectly. Now, Fang can blend into his surroundings when he doesn't move. Oh, yeah, and this morning, Angel influenced Nudge to wake up, so she can control your mind. That's it, really."

"That is so cool," Ron said simply.

Finally, the fire was done. Just as we were cooking eggs and sausages, Bill, Charlie and Percy walked out from the woods. "Just Apparated, Dad," Percy said, trying to look impressive. "Ah, excellent, lunch!"

We were halfway through lunch when Mr Weasley jumped to his feet, waving and smiling at a man walking towards us. "Aha!" he said, "The man of the minute! Ludo!"

Ludo Bagman was easily the most noticeable wizard I've seen, including Archie in his flowered nightdress. Thinking about him again make me snort into my tea, but I covered it up with a violent coughing fit.

Ludo was wearing long Quidditch robes in thick horizontal strips of yellow and black, and there was a huge wasp splashed across the chest. He looked like a once powerfully built man gone to seed; his robes were tightly stretched across his large stomach, which he obviously didn't have when he played Quidditch years ago. His nose was oddly squashed, probably from getting hit by a Bludger, and he had the face like an overgrown schoolboy.

"Ahoy there!" he called as he reached our tent, walking as if there were springs attached to his feet. Angel was eyeing him suspiciously, so immediately I knew he was someone to look out for.

"Arthur, old man," he puffed, as if the short walk was too much for him, "What a day, huh? What a day! Couldn't have asked for better weather! A cloudless night coming in, and barely a hiccough in the arrangements. Not much for to do!"

Over Bagman's shoulder, some other Ministry workers were pointing to a magical fire, spitting purple flames twenty feet into the air.

Percy rushed forward, hand outstretched. He mightn't approve of how Bagman runs his department, but that didn't stop him wanting to make a good impression. Git.

"Ah yes," Mr Weasley said, "This is my son, Percy- he just started working at the Ministry- and that's Fred- no, sorry that's George- _that's _Fred- Bill, Charlie, Ron, my daughter Ginny, and Max, Fang, Iggy, Nudge, the Gasman and Angel. And their friends, Hermione Granger and Harry Potter."

Bagman did a double take when he heard Harry's name, and like everyone else that met Harry, his eyes flickered to his forehead, where Harry's lightening shaped scar was visible under his fringe.

"Everyone," Mr Weasley said, "This is Ludo Bagman. It's because of him we got such great tickets." Bagman waved his hand and smiled as if to say it was nothing, even though none of us seemed very pushed to say thanks. Let's just say the flock have never been very mannerly.

"Fancy a gamble on the match, Arthur?" Bagman asked, grinning eagerly and jiggling the pocket full of money in his yellow and black robes. Angel frowned, looking at Bagman with a weird expression. _What's wrong? _I thought to her.

_He's getting people to bet, but he doesn't know how he's going to pay anyone back. _Angel thought into my mind.

_Wow, the people they pick to go into politics... _I thought back. She smiled at me, then we both returned to the conversation at hand.

"Oh go on, then," Mr Weasley said, "Let's see...A Galleon on Ireland."

"A Galleon?" Bagman said, looking disappointed, "Alright then, very well, very well. Any other takers?"

I gave the flock stern looks. After what Angel told me, I wasn't trusting this guy. Iggy, who had started to reach into his pocket, stopped when saw me looking at him.

"They're a bit young to be gambling, Ludo," Mr Weasley said, "Molly wouldn't like it-"

"We'll bet thirty-seven Galleons, fifteen Sickles, and three Knuts," said Fred and George, counting all their money, "That Ireland wins, but Krum will catch the Snitch. Oh, and we'll throw in a fake wand."

"You don't want to go showing Mr Bagman rubbish like that!" Percy hissed, but Bagman didn't seem to think the fake wand was rubbish at all. His boyish face split into a wide grin, and he started laughing as he took it from Fred. When the wand squeaked and turned into a rubber chicken, he roared with laughter.

"Excellent! I haven't seen one this convincing in years! I'd give you five Galleons for it!"

Percy froze in stunned disapproval.

"Boys," Mr Weasley said, looking worried, "I don't want you betting...That's all your savings... Your mother-"

"Don't be a spoilsport, Arthur!" Bagman boomed, "They're old enough to know what they want! You think Ireland will win, but Krum with catch the Snitch? Not a chance, lads, not a chance...I'll give you great odds for that one. And the five Galleons for the funny wand."

Mr Weasley looked at them helplessly as Bagman took out a notebook and wrote back down the twins bet. "Cheers," George said, taking the slip of parchment Bagman offered him and putting it into his pocket. Bagman turned cheerfully back to Mr Weasley.

"Couldn't do we a brew, I suppose?" he asked, "I'm keeping an eye out for old Barty Crouch. My Bulgarian opposite numbers making things difficult and I can't understand a word he's saying. Barty'll be able to sort it out, though. He speaks about a hundred different languages-"

"Mr Crouch?" Percy said, abandoning his professionalism and almost jumping with excitement. "He speaks over two hundred! Mermish, Gobbledgook, Troll-"

"Well anyone can speak troll troll," I said, rolling my eyes, "All you have to do is point and grunt."

Percy threw me a nasty look, and I smiled innocently at him. Percy got the kettle and started making the tea.

"Any news on Bertha Jorkins, Ludo?" Mr Weasley asked as Mr Bagman sat on the grass beside us. "Not a whistle," Bagman said. "But she'll turn up. Poor Bertha...Memory like a leaky cauldron and no sense of direction. Lost, if you ask me. She'll wander back into the office in October, thinking it's still July."

"You don't think you should send someone to look for her?" Nudge asked, "I mean, she has been missing for weeks. No one could get lost for that long, and no one see them."

"That's what Barty Crouch is always saying," Bagman said, "But we really can't spare anyone at the moment. Oh- talk of the devil, hello Barty!"

A wizard had just Apparated at our fireside. He couldn't have been more opposite to Ludo Bagman, who was sitting on the ground in his old Wasps uniform. Barty Crouch was a stiff, upright, elderly man dressed in a crisp suite and tie. The parting of his short grey was perfectly straight, and his toothbrush mustache looked as though he trimmed them with a side rule. His shoes were highly polished. I could easily see why Percy idolized them. Percy was a great believer in following the rules, and Mr Crouch had complied with the Muggle dress code so thoroughly that I doubt even Harry's uncle would of guessed him for what he really was.

"Pull up a bit of grass, Barty," Bagman said.

"No thank you," he said, "I've been looking for you everywhere. The Bulgarians are insisting on adding twelve extra seats to the Top Box."

"Oh, that's what they wanted! I thought he was asking to borrow a pair of tweezers," Bagman said.

"Mr Crouch!" Percy said breathlessly. "Would you like a cup of tea?"

"Oh," Crouch said, looking at Percy in surprise, "Yes-thank you, Weatherby."

Me, Fred and George all snorted into our cups of tea. Percy went very pink, and busied himself with the kettle once more.

"Oh, and I've been wanting a word with you too Arthur," Crouch said, turning his sharp eyes to Mr Weasley. "Ali Bashir's on the warpath. He wants a word about the flying carpets."

Mr Weasley sighed.

"I sent him an owl just last week. If I told him once, I've told him a hundred times: Carpets are defined as a Muggle Artifact by the Registry of Proscribed Charmable Objects, but will he listen?"

"I doubt it," Crouch said, taking the tea from Percy. "He's desperate to export here."

"Well, they'll never replace brooms in Britain, will they?" Bagman said.

"Ali thinks there's a niche in the market for a family vehicle," Crouch said, "I remember my grandfather had a carpet that could seat twelve-but that was before carpets were banned, of course." He spoke as though he wanted to make the point clear that his ancestors had abided strictly to the law.

"So, keeping busy, Barty?" Bagman asked.

"Fairly," Crouch said, "Organizeing Portkey's across five continents is no easy feat, Ludo."

"I expect you'll be glad when all this is over?" Mr Weasley said.

Bagman looked shocked. "Glad? I can't remember when I've had more fun! Still, it's not as though we don't have anything else to look forward to. Plenty left to organize, eh, Barty?"

Crouch raised his eyebrows. "We agreed not to make any announcements until all the details-"

"Oh, details!" Bagman said, waving his hand in the air. "They've sighed, haven't they? They've agreed? I bet you anything these kids will know some enough, anyway. I mean, it's happening at Hogwarts-"

"Ludo, we need to meet the Bulgarians," Crouch said, "Thank you for the tea, Weatherby."

He handed his full cup of tea back to Percy, then waited for Bagman to get to his feet. "See you all later!" he called as he stood beside Crouch. "You'll be in the Top Box with me- I'm commentating!"

Bagman waved, and Crouch nodded curtly, then they both Disapparated.

"What's happening at Hogwarts?" I asked. "What were they talking about?"

"You'll find out soon enough," Mr Weasley smiled.

"It's classified information, until such time the Ministry decides to release it," Percy said stiffly. "Mr Crouch was right not to say anything."

"Oh, shut up Weatherby," Fred said.

As the afternoon went on, the sense of excitement rose over the campsite. By dusk, the summer air seemed to be quivering with anticipation, and as darkness spread around the thousands of waiting wizards. The Ministry workers gave up trying to stop people from using magic, and signs of magic were breaking out everywhere.

Salesmen were Apparating every few feet, carrying trays and pushing carts full of merchandise. There were luminous rosettes-green for Ireland, red for Bulgaria- squealing the names of the players. Pointed green hats covered in dancing shamrocks (which I bought, 'cause the shamrocks were adorable) and red Bulgarian scarves. The flags of both countries that sang the countries national anthem (I also bought the Irish flag). There were tiny models of Firebolts that actually flew, and collective figures of players that walked across the palm of your hand.

"I've been saving all summer for this," Ron said, looking beside himself with excitement as we walked around buying our souvenirs. Even though Ron was buying Irish things, like the rest of us, he also bought a tiny figure of Viktor Krum.

"Wow, look at these!" Iggy said, pointing towards a cart with what looked like brass binoculars, except they were covered in loads of knobs and dials.

"Omnioculars," the salesmen said. "You can replay action. Slow everything down, and then flash up a play-by-play breakdown if you need to. Bargain- five Galleons each, because theres so many of you."

"Wish I hadn't bought this now," Ron said, glaring at the green rosette on his shirt.

"Nine pairs," Harry said, grinning at Hermione, Ron, and the flock.

"Harry, you can't. We'll buy our own-" I started, but Harry cut me off.

"Come off it. I didn't even get you a birthday present," Harry said, winking at me. I could feel myself blushing, and was thankful that it was dark. "Besides, you don't have to have to buy me a Christmas present," he said, shoving the Omnioculars into everyones hands. "For about ten years, mind."

"Fair enough," Fang said, grinning one of his rare grins.

"Oooh, thanks Harry," Nudge said, "These are really cool! They're so pretty! Look at all the buttons and the colors and the-"

"Hey, look I'll get the programs," I said loudly, interrupting Nudge. With our money bags lighter, we walked back to the tent. Bill, Charlie and Ginny were all wearing green hats and badges and Mr Weasley was carrying an Irish flag.

Fred and George didn't have anything because they had given all their money to Bagman.

Then came a deep, booming gong from somewhere in the woods, then green and red lanterns blazed into life on the path to the woods.

"It's time!" Mr Weasley said. "Let's go!"

* * *

><p><em><strong>Hola! <strong>_

_**Sorry for the wait on this chapter! I was really busy! **_

___**Anyway, I hope everyone likes the chapter!**_

___**And now that Pottermore is open, here is my Pottermore name: HallowSpirit154! Feel free to add me!**_

_**Free cookies and butterbeer to everyone that reviews, so...**_

_**REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW!**_

_**lOvE yOu!**_

_**-Rach ;)**_


	5. The Quidditch World Cup

_**AUTHORS NOTE :P**_

_**Hey! So here is the chapter everyones been looking forward to!**_

_**THE QUIDDITCH WORLD CUP!**_

_**Now to answer some reviews...**_

_**max artemis potter: Pottermore is a sight J.K Rowling made for Potter fans and you can go through all the books like Harry, and get a wand, and get sorted and everything. **_

_**jdr ride: reply to what? did you ask those questions before? I'm really sorry! But, sorry the flock won't be in the Tournaments..sorry. as for the other questions, you'll just have to wait and see...**_

_**signofthemoon: she'll find out soon enough. and total's going to be staying with Angel. **_

_**Green Nook: you'll just have to wait and see...**_

Arkell_** 26: I get why you'd think she didn't see it, but Max saw the look on Lockhart's face after she got her out of the Chamber, and it was the same look on Mr Roberts face, so that's how she recognized it..**_

_**punk birds rock: yeah, there is a spell, but their not meant to be using magic at the campsite. **_

_**Annie Bell: Seriously? Merlin was in Slytherin? I added you on Pottermore :D and why would I stereotype?**_

_**And now, my faithful readers, WELCOME TO THE **__**422nd QUIDDITCH WORLD CUP!**_

* * *

><p><em><strong>Max's POV<strong>_

Following Mr Weasley and clutching our purchases, we walked into the woods, following the well lit trail. We could hear thousands of other people moving around us, shouts of laughter and singing. The excited atmosphere was infectious and I couldn't stop grinning. We walked for nearly twenty minutes, talking and joking loudly. Gazzy even let out on of his-er, surprises. For the last five minutes of the walk, we were all gagging and choking, our eyes streaming, while the Gasman walked ahead, grinning.

We emerged on the other side and found ourselves facing a massive stadium. It was big enough to store a couple cathedrals inside. I was glad to see there wasn't a roof. If the flock had to get away, it would be simple.

"Seats a hundred thousand," Mr Weasley said, grinning at Harry's awestruck look. "There have been five hundred members of the Ministry task force working on it all year. Muggle Repelling Charms on every inch of it. Every time a Muggle came close to it over the summer, they suddenly remembered that they had to be somewhere else, and rush off."

"Top Box!" said a Ministry witch at the entrance, "Straight upstairs Arthur, as high as you can go."

The stairs into the stadium were covered in purple carpet. We climbed up the stairs with the crowd, while the flock tried not to think about how many people were around us. Slowly, the crowds of people drifted away through doors on the left and right, but we kept climbing. At last we reached the top of a stairs, and found ourselves in a small box, set at the highest point of the stadium. There were about thirty seats spread into three rows, and as we filled up the front row, I looked down on the stadium, feeling my jaw drop, and all my thoughts about Erasers popping up and taking us all back to the School disappeared from my mind.

There were a hundred thousand wizards and witches getting into their seats, which rose in levels around the oval field. The field itself looked velvety and smooth. At either end of the field was the fifty-foot high goalposts. Right opposite us was a gigantic blackboard. Gold writing was flashing across it, as if an invisible giant was writing on it, and then wiping it away; watching it, I noticed the blackboard was for advertisements.

_`The Bluebottle: A broom for all the family- safe, reliable, and with a Built-in-Anti-Burgler Buzzer...Mrs. Shower's All Purpose Magical Mess Remover: No Pain, No Stain!...Gladrags Wizardwear- London, Paris, Hogsmeade...'_

I took my eyes off the blackboard, and saw Harry looking over his shoulder at all the other people in the box with us. I looked around as well, curious. So far, it was empty, except for one, small, strange, looking creature sitting in the second from last seat in the row behind us. The creature, who was so small it's legs were dangling over the edge of the chair, was wearing a tea-towel draped like a toga, and it was covering it's face with it's hands. It looked strangely familiar...

Harry and I shared a look, both recognizing the creature. "Dobby?" Harry asked.

The tiny creature looked up and put it's hands down from it's face, revealing huge brown eyes and a nose like a large tomato. It wasn't Dobby, but ti was a house-elf, just like Dobby was. Two years ago, Harry had set Dobby free from his owners, the Malfoy's.

"Did sir just call me Dobby?" the house-elf asked. It's voice was much higher then Dobby's had been, so I thought-though it was hard to tell- that his house-elf was a girl. Ron, Hermione, and the rest of the flock spun around in their seats. They had all heard a lot about Dobby from me and Harry, but had never actually met him. Even Mr Weasley turned around to look.

"Sorry," I said, "We thought you were someone else."

"But I knows Dobby too, miss!" squeaked the elf. She was still shielding her face. "My name is Winky, sir and miss," she said, looking at me and Harry. But when her eyes landed on Harry, her enormous brown eyes widened to the size of dinner plates. "You is surely Harry Potter!"

"Yeah, I am," Harry said. "Dobby talks of you all the time, sir!" Winky squeaked, lowering her hands just a small bit.

"How is he?" I asked. "Is he happy, now that he's free?"

"Ah, miss," Winky said, shaking her head, "Meaning no disrespect to Harry Potter, miss, but I not so sure Harry Potter did him a favor, miss, in setting Dobby free."

"Why?" Harry asked, "What's wrong with him?"

"Freedom has gone to Dobby's head, sir," Winky said sadly, "He can't get another position, sir."

"Why not?" Iggy asked.

Winky lowered her voice and whispered, "Dobby is wanting paying for his work, sir."

"Paying?" Angel asked, her blue eyes wide, "Why shouldn't he get paid for working?"

Winky looked horrified at the thought, and covered her face with her hands again. "House-elves do not get paid, young miss!" Winky said in a muffled squeak, "No no no no! I says to Dobby, I says, go find yourself a nice family and settle down. He is getting up to all sorts of high jinks, sirs and misses, what is unbecoming of a house-elf. You goes around like this, Dobby, I says, and next thing I hear, you's up front of the Department for Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures."

"Well, it's about time Dobby had some fun," I said, grinning.

"House-elves aren't meant to have fun, miss," Winky said firmly, "House-elves does what they is told. I is not liking heights, Harry Potter, sir-" she said, glancing towards the edge of the box, then she gulped. "-But my master sends me to the Top Box, and I comes, sir."

"Why did he send you here if he knew you were afraid of heights?" Harry asked.

"Master-master wants me to save him a seat, Harry Potter. He is very busy, sir," Winky said, tilting her head towards the empty seat beside her. "Winky is wishing she is back in Master's tent, Harry Potter, but Winky does what she is told. Winky is a good house-elf."

She looked at the edge of the box again, but looked away, covering her face again, wincing and whimpering.

We turned back to the others. "So that's a house-elf?" Ron muttered, "Strange things, aren't they?"

"Dobby was way more strange then Winky," Harry said. Ron pulled out his Omnioculars and started testing them, pointing them at different people in the crowd.

"Wicked!" Ron said, messing with the replay knob on the side. "I can make that old bloke down there pick his nose again...and again...and again...and again..." Looking very interested, Iggy and the Gasman took out their Omnioculars and started looking for other gross things they could play again and again.

Meanwhile, Hermione was reading through the program.

"`A display of the team mascots will precede the match,'" she read aloud.

"Oh, that's always worth watching," Mr Weasley said, "National teams being creatures from their native lands, you know, to put on a bit of a show."

The box started filling gradually over the next half hour. Mr Weasley kept shaking hands with very obvious important wizards. Percy jumped to his feet so much it looked like there were springs on his butt. When the Minister of Magic himself, Cornelius Fudge, walked into the box, Percy bowed so low his glasses fell off and shattered against the floor. Red faced, he picked them up and repaired them with his wand, and stayed in his seat, throwing jealous at Harry, who Fudge had greeted like an old friend. They shook hands, and Fudge introduced him to the wizards that had walked in with him.

"Harry Potter, you know," Fudge said loudly to the Bulgarian minister, who didn't seem to understand a word of English.

"Harry Potter...Oh, come on now, you have to know who he is. The boy who survived You Know Who...you know who he is?"

The Bulgarian wizard had seen Harry's lightening shaped scar on his forehead, and he was now jumping up and down excitedly, gibbering in Bulgarian.

"Knew he'd get there in the end," Fudge said, "I'm not great at the language thing... I need Barty Crouch here for that. Ah, I see his house-elf is saving him a seat...Good thing too, these Bulgarian blighters have been trying to get all the best places...ah, here's Lucius!"

The flock, Harry, Ron and Hermione wheeled around quickly. Edging along the second row to the last three remaining seats were none other then Dobby's old owners: Lucius Malfoy; his jerk son Draco Malfoy; and a gorgeous looking woman who I supposed was Draco's mother.

Draco Malfoy has been our enemy since the first time we ever met him.

All three of the Malfoy's were blonde. Mrs Malfoy was tall and slim, and looked as though there was a nasty smell under her nose.

"Ah, Fudge," Mr Malfoy said as he approached Fudge, then shook his hand. "How are you? I don't think you've ever met my wife, Narcissa? Or our son, Draco?"

"How do you do?" Fudge asked, smiling and bowing at Mrs Malfoy. "Let me introduce Mr Oblansk- Obalonsk- Mr- well, he's the Bulgarian Minister of Magic and he doesn't understand a word I'm saying anyway, so it doesn't matter. And, let's see, who else- I daresay you know Arthur Weasley?"

It was a tense and awkward moment. The last time Mr Weasley and Mr Malfoy had met, they were punching and pushing each other into book shelves in Diagon Alley. Mr Malfoy's cold, grey eyes swept across Mr Weasley, then up and down the row.

"Good Lord, Arthur," Mr Malfoy said softly, "What did you have to sell to get all these tickets in the Top Box? Surely your house isn't worth this much?"

Charlie, who was on my left, put his hand on my shoulder when I stepped forward, fists clenched. Before I could say something insulting or sarcastic to Mr Malfoy, Fudge, who hadn't been listening, said, "Lucius has given a very generous contribution to St. Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries, Arthur. He's here as my guest."

"How-how nice," Mr Weasley said with a very forced smile.

Mr Malfoy's eyes had landed on Hermione, who went pink but she still stared determinedly back at him. I knew why he was staring at Hermione like that. The Malfoy's were one of the families that prided themselves in being pureblood. In other words, they considered anything of Muggle decent, like Hermione, middle-class. They treated Muggle-borns like filth.

"Something wrong, Mr Malfoy?" I snarled, noticing the way his lip was curling.

"Nothing at all, Miss Ride," Mr Malfoy said meanly. He wouldn't dare actually say anything in front of the Minister of Magic. Draco shot us all a look, then sat down between his parents.

"They seem pleasant," Gazzy said, his voice dripping with sarcasm. We all chuckled, then Ludo Bagman walked into the box, still wearing his old Quidditch uniform. "Everyone ready?" he asked excitedly. "Minister-ready to go?"

"Ready when you are, Ludo," Fudge said comfortably.

Ludo whipped out his wand, directed it at his own throat, and said, _"Sonorus!" _and then he spoke over the roar and cheering of the crowd; his voice echoed over them, booming into every corner of the stands.

"Ladies and gentlemen...welcome! Welcome to the final of the four hundred and twenty-second Quidditch World Cup!"

The crowd cheered and clapped. Thousands of flags waved and the two different national anthems were playing together. The huge blackboard opposite us wiped clean of it's last advertisement for Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans, and it now read _IRELAND: 0, BULGARIA: 0. _

"And now, without further ado, let me introduce...The Bulgarian National Team Mascots!"

The right-hand side of the stands, which was a solid block of red, erupted in cheers of approval.

"I wonder what they've brought," Mr Weasley said. "Ahh!" He suddenly wiped his glasses off his robes, and said, "Veela!"

"What are veela-?"

But a hundred veela were now gliding out onto the field, and Nudge's question was answered. Veela were women, beautiful women. Except, they couldn't really be human, the way their skin shone moon bright, or the way their hair was white-gold.

And that's when the music started, and that's when all the boy's started acting very weird. Well, weirder then usual.

Harry, who always looked so thoughtful, now had a distant, vague look in his face. Ron was looking dreamy, and he slowly got to his feet and walked towards the wall of the box, with Iggy walked beside him. After another few seconds, Harry got to feet as well, and walked over with Ron and Iggy. Getting what was happening, Ginny grabbed onto Fang's hand to keep him in his seat, and Angel held onto the Gasman. All the other guys seemed to have control of themselves, but just barely.

Me, Hermione and Nudge all jumped up to the wall of the box beside the boys, just as Harry lifted his leg onto the wall, as if he was going to jump off, and Ron looked like he was ready to dive off a springboard. Iggy, however, was standing quite still, staring at the dancing veela, but I had the feeling that he was going to whip put his wings and fly around the stadium.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" I yelled. Then the music stopped playing, and the veela stopped dancing. The boy's blinked, then stepped away from the edge of the box, and Fang and Gazzy stopped fighting. Fang grinned sheepishly at Ginny when he saw she was holding his hand, and didn't move for a few seconds. When they moved away from each other, both of them were bright red.

Angry yells started filling the stadium. The crowd didn't seem to want the veela to leave, and it was clear that Harry, Ron, Iggy and Fang agreed with them. I rolled my eyes, reached out and grabbed the back of Harry's jumper and pulled him back to his seat. Hermione dragged Ron back and Nudge dragged back Iggy.

"Honestly!" Hermione tutted.

"And now," Bagman roared into his wand, "Give it up for the Irish National Team Mascots!"

Next minute, what looked like a green and gold comet came zooming around the stadium. It did one round of the pitch, then split into two smaller comets, each one going towards the goal posts. A rainbow arched across the pitch (which made Nudge squeal in delight) connecting the two balls of light. The crowd ooohhed and aaaaaahed, but none of them as loud as Nudge. Now the rainbow faded and the two balls of light connected again; they formed a huge green shamrock, which rose into the air over the crowd.

Something like golden rain seemed to be falling from the shamrock. "Excellent!" Ron yelled as the shamrock came over us and heavy gold coins rained from it onto us. Looking up at the shamrock, I saw it was made out of little bearded men with red vests, each carrying a small lamp of gold or green.

"Leprechauns!" Mr Weasley yelled happily over the tumultuous applause from the crowd, and we could see many people ducking and jumping to get the gold.

"There you go!" Ron said happily, giving Harry a handful of the gold coins. "Now you have to get me a Christmas present!" We all laughed as the giant shamrock dissolved, and the leprechauns drifted onto the pitch, on the opposite side of the veela, and settled themselves down for the match.

"And now, ladies and gentlemen, kindly welcome- the Bulgarian National Quidditch Team!

"I give you-Dimitrov!" A figure on a broomstick, dressed in scarlet, moving so fast he was a blur, shot out from the entrance below to wild applause from the Bulgarian supporters.

"Ivanova!" A second scarlet clad player shot out from the entrance.

"Zograf! Levski! Vulchanov! Volkov! Aaaaaaaaaaand-Krum!"

"That's him! That's him!" Ron said excitedly, following Krum with his Omnioculars.

"Ron and Krum, Sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G-" Nudge started singing happily, but Ron was too busy looking at Krum through his Omnioculars to listen to her, while the rest of us were howling with laughter.

I decided to see if Krum was so grumpy in real life as he was in his poster. I looked at him through my own Omnioculars. And I was right- Krum was looking as grumpy as he had in his picture. He was dark, sallow-skinned, with a large curved nose and thick black eyebrows. He looked like an overgrown bird of prey. I could hardly believe he was only eighteen.

"And, now please greet- the Irish National Quidditch Team!" yelled Bagman, "Presenting- Connolly! Ryan! Troy! Mullet! Moran! Quigley! Aaaaaaand-Lynch!"

Seven green blurs swept onto the pitch. I could see the small gold _Firebolt_ written on their handlebars, and their names embroidered on their backs.

"And here, all the way from Egypt, our referee, acclaimed Chairwizard of the International Association of Quidditch, Hassan Mostafa!"

A small and skinny wizard, completely bald, but he had a massive mustache that was even more ridiculous then Harry's uncle's, strode onto the pitch. A silver whistle was visible from under his mustache, and he was carrying a large wooden crate under one arm, and his broomstick under his other arm. I watched as Mostafa mounted his broomstick and kicked the crate open, and four balls burst into the air: the red Quaffle, the two black Bludgers, and I saw for a split second before it disappeared, the Golden Snitch.

With a sharp blast of his whistle, Mostafa shot after the balls.

"Theeeeeeeey're OFF!" screamed Bagman. "And it's Mullet! Troy! Moran! Dimitrov! Back to Mullet! Troy! Levski! Moran!"

It was Quidditch like I've never seen before. Being a Chaser myself, I couldn't believe the speed the Chasers were throwing the Quaffle to each other. They were doing it so fast, Bagman only had time to say there names before someone else had the Quaffle.

Moran had the Quaffle, but he got blocked by Levski, who managed to get the Quaffle, but Troy soared up and got the Quaffle back, then he soared towards the goal posts. He threw the Quaffle and-

"TROY SCORES!" Bagman yelled and the stadium exploded in cheers and applause. "Ten-zero to Ireland!"

"What?" Harry asked, "But Levski's got the Quaffle!"

"Harry, you're going to miss things if you don't watch at normal speed," Hermione shouted over the noise.

I smirked at Harry, who looked furious with himself, and looked across at the leprechauns, who had formed into the giant shamrock again, facing the veela who were sulking on their bench.

I knew enough about Quidditch and flying to know that the Irish Chaser's were amazing. They worked as if they were one, their movements so coordinated and precise they seemed to be reading each others minds, and the little rosette on my jumper kept crying their names," Moran! Muttet! Troy!" And within another ten minutes, Ireland had scored twice more, making the score thirty-zero, and causing a massive tidal wave of noise from the Irish supporters.

The match became even faster, and more brutal. Volkov and Vulchanov, the Bulgarian Beaters, were whacking the Bludgers so fiercely at the Irish Chasers that they couldn't do some of their best moves. Twice, they were forced to scatter, and finally, Ivanova managed to get the Quaffle passed the Irish Keeper, Ryan, and score Bulgaria's first goal.

"Fingers in your ears!" Mr Weasley yelled. I watched in amusement as Harry covered his ears, and closed his eyes too, and so did all the other boys. After about a minute, the veela stopped dancing, and I nudged Harry and Charlie, who I was sitting between.

"Dimitrov!" Bagman was shouting, "Levski! Dimitrov! Ivanova!- oh, I say!"

One hundred thosand wizards gasped all together, and at the same time, the flock, the Weasley's, Harry and Hermione all rose from our seats for a better look. The two Seekers, Krum and Lynch, were plummeting towards the ground. I pulled my Omnioculars to my eyes to see where the Snitch was, but I couldn't see it anywhere.

"They're going to crash!" Nudge screamed.

She was almost right. At the last second, Krum pulled sharply out of the dive and spiraled to the right. Lynch, not fast enough in realizing what was happening, crashed right into the ground with a dull thud that seemed to echo throughout the stadium. A huge groan rose from the Irish side of the pitch.

"Fool!" Mr Weasley moaned. "Krum was feinting!"

"And it's a timeout!" Bagman called. "as trained mediwizards run onto the pitch to check on Aidan Lynch!"

"He'll be fine," Charlie was saying to Ginny, who was staring at the pitch, horror struck. "He only got ploughed. Which is what Krum wanted, of course." And then I understood- Krum never saw the Snitch. I had never seen flying like that before.

I used my Omnioculars to look at Krum, who was flying high over Lynch, who was being revived by the mediwizards with cups of potion. I looked back up at Krum. His dark eyes were darting all over the ground of the pitch. He was using the time Lynch was down to look for the Snitch. Well, tickle me pink and call me impressed.

At last, Lynch got to his feet, to many cheers from the Irish seats, and he mounted his broom and kicked off into the air. His revival seemed to have given Ireland new heard and hope. When Mostafa blew the whistle again, the Irish Chasers flew into action faster then anything I've ever seen before.

After fifteen more minutes of fast and furious playing, Ireland had pulled ahead by another ten goals. They were now leading by one hundred and thirty points to ten, and the game was starting to get dirtier.

As Mullet went towards the goals again, the Quaffle in his hand, the Bulgarian Keeper, Zograf, flew out to meet her. Whatever happened was over so fast that I didn't even see the whole thing, even with my raptor vision, but there was a scream of rage from the Irish crowd and Mostafa's shrill whistle blast told us it was a foul.

"And Mostafa takes the Bulgarian Keeper to task for excessive use of elbows!" Bagman informed everyone.

The leprechauns had risen into the air in front of the veela's, and went together to form the words, "HA HA HA!" The veela, getting mad, rose from their seats and stared dancing again. As one, the Weasley boys, the flock boys, and Harry, all stuffed their fingers into their ears.

"Max, look at the referee!" Ginny said, giggling. I looked down onto the pitch at Mostafa, who had flown down to the veela, probably to tell them off, but now he was flexing his muscles and smoothing his mustache.

I tugged on Harry's arm to get him to look, and when he saw the referee, we both started laughing.

"Now we can't have that!" Bagman roared. "Someone slap that referee!"

A mediwizard ran across the field, his fingers shoved into his own ears, and kicked Mostafa hard in the shins. This only made us all laugh harder. But it seemed to work, because, Mostafa was now looking very embarrassed, and was shouting at the veela, who sat down, looking furious.

"And I think Mostafa is actually attempting to send the Bulgarian team mascots off the pitch!" Bagman yelled. "Now there is something we've never seen before! Oh, this could turn nasty..."

And so it did. The Bulgarian Beaters, Volkov and Vulchanov, landed down on either side of Mostafa and started shouting furiously at him, gesturing towards the leprechauns, who were now floating in the air forming the words, "HEE HEE HEE!" Mostafa was not impressed with the arguments. He was pointing to their Firebolts, then back to the sky, clearly telling them to get back into the air. When they refused, he gave two short blasts of the whistle.

"And two penalties to Ireland!" Bagman shouted, and the Bulgarian crowd roared angrily.

"And Volkov and Vulchanov better get back on their brooms...yes, there they go... and Troy takes the Quaffle."

The game reached a level of violence and ferocity beyond anything that's happened so far. The Beaters on both teams were acting without mercy: the Bulgarian ones in particular didn't seem to care whether their clubs hit the Bludger or a human as they swung them violently through the air. Dimitrov shot straight at Moran, nearly knocking her off her broom.

"Foul!" Yelled the Irish supporters at once.

"Foul!" Bagman echoed, "Dimitrov skins Moran- deliberately flying to collide with her there- and it has to be another penalty- and yes, there's the whistle!"

The leprechauns had risen into the air again, and they formed together to make a hand, which made a very rude gesture towards the veela. I covered Angel's eyes.

At the other end of the pitch, the veela finally lost it. Instead of dancing, they leaped across the pitch, throwing what seemed to be fireballs at the leprechauns. They didn't look as beautiful now- their faces were growing in sharp, cruel-beaked bird heads, and long, scaly wings were erupting from their shoulders-

"Good thing the School only gave us the wings," Iggy said, staring at the veela and looking disgusted.

"Yes, and that is why you never just go by personality alone, boys," Mr Weasley said.

Ministry wizards were flooding onto the pitch to separate the veela and the leprechauns, but with little success. Meanwhile, the fight on the ground was nothing compared to the one happening in the sky. My eyes were taking in everything as the Quaffle changed hands like a bullet.

"Levski- Dimitrov- Moran- Troy- Mullet- Ivanova- Moran again- MORAN SCORES!"

The cheers of the Irish were drowned out by the shrieks of the veela, and the blasts coming from the Ministry officials wands, and the furious roars from the Bulgarians. The game continued straight away- Levski had the Quaffle, then Dimitrov- the Irish Beater Quigley swung his bat heavily at a passing Bludger and hit it as hard as eh could towards Krum, who didn't move out of the way fast enough. It hit him right in the face.

There was a deafening groan from the crowd. Krum's nose was broken, and blood was flying everywhere. "Is he alright?" Angel asked.

"Yeah, sweetie, he'll be fine," I said. "But there's so much blood..." Angel said, looking a bit pale.

"Head injuries always bleed more," I said. That seemed to convince her that Krum wasn't going to die, but she still wasn't looking anywhere near him.

Mostafa didn't seem to notice that Krum was injured, although I couldn't blame him. One of the veela's had thrown a fireball at it hit the tail of his broomstick, which erupted in flames.

"Time-out! Look at him, he can't play like that!" Ron shouted.

"Look at Lynch!" Gazzy yelled.

The Irish Seeker had gone into a sudden dive, and I was sure this was no feint, like what Krum did... This was the real thing...

"He's seen the Snitch!" Harry shouted. "He's seen it! Look at him go!"

Only about half of the crowd had noticed what had happened. The Irish supporters were all standing up, cheering Lynch on...But Krum was on his tail, blood flying around his face from his nose. They drew level, and the pair of them hurtled towards the ground once more...

"They're going to crash!" I shouted.

"They're not!" Fang yelled.

"Lynch is!" roared Harry.

And Harry was right. For the second time, Lynch went straight into the ground, and he was swarmed by a crowd of angry veela. But Krum grabbed the Snitch and pulled out of the dive.

"Where's the Snitch? Where is it?" Charlie asked.

"He has it- Krum got it! Its over- It's all over!" Harry said.

Krum, his red robes shining from the blood that was still coming from his nose, rose high into the air, his fist held up high, and a gold glint was visible in his closed hand.

The scoreboard was flashing, _BULGARIA: 160; IRELAND: 170 _across the crowd, who didn't seem to notice what happened. Then, slowly, the Irish supporters started screaming and roaring with delight.

"IREALND WINS! _**(AN: WHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! GO IRELAND! WHOOP!)**_ BUT KRUM GOT THE SNITCH! BUT IRELAND WINS! I WAS NOT EXPECTING THAT!" Bagman was screaming.

"What did he catch the Snitch for?" Ron bellowed, even though he was jumping up and down in celebration, "He ended it when Ireland was a hundred and sixty points ahead! The idiot!"

"He knew they'd never catch up!" Harry shouted, clapping his hands loudly. "The Irish Chasers were too good. He ended it on his terms, that's all."

"He was very brave, wasn't he?" Hermione said, blushing slightly as she spoke, "He looks a horrible mess."

I looked down at the ground, where mediwizards were fussing over Krum, who looked like he just wanted to leave. He refused for the mediwizards to clean him up. The Bulgarian team were around him,shaking their heads and looking depressed. A short way away, the Irish team were dancing happily in a shower of gold coins from the leprechauns. Flags were waving all over the stadium, and the Irish National Anthem was blaring from every corner. The veela slowly shrank back into their beautiful forms, looking very dispirited.

"Vell, ve fought bravely," said a gloomy voice behind me. We all turned around. It was the Bulgarian Minister of Magic.

"You can speak English!" Fudge gasped, looking outraged. "And you've been letting me mine everything all day!"

"Vell, it vos very funny," the Bulgarian Minister chuckled.

"As as the Irish team performs a lap of honor, flanked by their mascots, the Quidditch World Cup is brought into the Top Box!" Bagman shouted.

My eyes were suddenly dazzled by a bright light as the Top Box was suddenly illuminated so that everyone else could see. I turned my head so that no one could see me, and was proud when I saw the flock doing the same. We're just cute that way.

Squinting, I saw two panting and sweating wizards carrying a vast cup, which they handed to Fudge, who was still looking furious that he was tricked into using sign language all day.

"Let's have it for the gallant losers- the Bulgarians!" Bagman roared.

Up the stairs came the seven defeated Bulgarian players. The crowd below was clapping happily. One by one, the Bulgarian players filled into the remaining seats in the Top Box, and Bagman called out each name, and they all shook hands with their own minister, then Fudge.

Krum, who was last in the line, was looking a real mess. His face was completely covered in blood, and so was his neck and robes. He was still holding the Snitch. I noticed that he was slightly less graceful on the ground than he was in the air. He was slightly duck-footed. When Krum's name was called, the crowd gave him an ear-splitting roar.

And then the Irish team came in. Lynch was being held up by Connolly and Moran. The second crash seemed to have dazed him; his eyes were unfocused and he couldn't stand straight. But he grinned happily as Quigley and Troy held up the Cup, and the crowd below thundered its approval.

At last, when the Irish team left the Top Box, to perform another lap, Bagman pointed his wand to his throat and said, _"Quietus!" _

"They'll be talking about this one for years," he said to us, his voice hoarse. "a rather unexpected twist there...Shame it couldn't have lasted longer...Ah, yes, what do I owe you?"

For Fred and George had sprung to their feet and were standing in front of Bagman with happy grins on their faces, their hands outstretched, while Angel looked around with a strange, suspicious expression.

* * *

><p><em><strong>Hey, I'm really sorry that it's taken a while to update. Life has been hectic lately...<strong>_

_**Anyway, how was the chapter? Did everyone like it?**_

_**As you all know by now, when you review, you get free cookies and butterbeer if you review! So...**_

_**REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW!**_

_**lOvE yOu! o.O**_

_**-Rach ;)**_


	6. Masks and Marks

_**AUTHORS NOTE!**_

_**Hello all!**_

_**Not many people reviewed on the last chapter, and there isn't really anything for me to reply to so... **_

_**Here's the chapter!**_

_**By the way, this chapter is veeeeeeeeery long, so it might either take me a long time to write it, or else I'll just cut it into two chapters. **_

_**So if it takes me a long time to update, I'm sorry, my life is very hectic at the moment, I'm training nearly every day in football, because our semi-finals are on Friday, and my other team's league just started, and we have tests...**_

_**Also, I broke two of my fingers playing basketball so that's going to make it hard and slow to type...**_

_**So, if it takes me a while, I am sorry. **_

_**Anyway, here's the chapter!**_

_**Enjoy!**_

_**-Rach ;)**_

* * *

><p><em>Max's POV<em>

"I don't think you should tell your mother that you've been gambling," Mr Weasley said to the twins as we walked down from the Top Box.

"Don't worry Dad," Fred said happily, "We have big plans for this money. We don't want it taken off us."

Mr Weasley looked like we wanted to ask what these plans were, but thought better of it. We were soon caught up in the huge crowds coming from the stadium. Loud singing tore through the night as we reached the end of the lantern lit path. The Gasman gave a huge yawn from beside me. "Alright, kiddo?" I asked.

"Yeah," he said, rubbing his eyes, "I'm just a tiny bit tired. But I don't want to go to bed yet!" he added quickly. I laughed and said, "We'll have some hot chocolate, then you can go to sleep."

"Fair enough," Gazzy said, grinning. I ruffled his thick blonde hair, and he chuckled, then walked forward to talk to Iggy.

"Are you sleepy, too sweetie?" I asked Angel, who was frowning.

"A bit," she said. "Is something wrong?" I asked; she was still frowning, and had a strange look on her face.

"You know all the people that were in the Top Box?" Angel said, reaching up and taking my hand. I nodded, wondering where this was going.

"Well, I could read some of their minds. But I couldn't pick anything up from the Malfoy's, except for the son. And you know the house-elf, Winky? I coldn't read her mind either," Angel said. "But I could pick up on some things. But they didn't make much sense."

"Like what?" I asked.

"Well, I couldn't pick up on words, just feeling and emotions. She was hiding something, Max. But I don't know what," Angel said.

"Don't worry about it, Angel," I said, although I was starting to worry about it myself. "It was probably nothing. She could of just left something behind in the house that Crouch wanted."

Angel nodded, biting her lip. "Cheer up, Angel," Nudge said, smiling. "Ireland won the Cup!" She laughed as a few leprechauns came shooting over our heads.

When we finally walking into the boys tent, I asked Mr Weasley about the one last cup of hot chocolate before bed. He agreed, and went into the small kitchen to make them. The boy's tent was huge! There were even a few spare beds in the small bedrooms.

We started arguing about the match, and it was only when Angel feel asleep beside me, spilling all her hot chocolate on the floor, that Mr Weasley made us all go to bed. Me, Hermione, Ginny, Nudge and Angel said goodnight to everyone, then went into our tent.

I was on the bunk above Ginny's, and I just lay in my bed, staring at the canvas ceiling in front of me, grinning at the occasional glow of a leprechaun lantern as it passed overhead.

I was itching to get back on my Nimbus Two Thousand, or else to spread my wings and take to the sky...

I saw myself in robes, with my name on the back, and imagined the sensation of hearing a hundred thousand people cheering me on, as a voice shouts, "I give you...Ride!"

I never knew how long it was before I feel asleep, but next thing I knew, I was being shaken awake by Mr Weasley, who was shouting.

"Girls, get up! Come on, now, this is urgent!"

I sat up quickly, and looked around. "What's wrong?" I asked. I could tell something was wrong. The noise around the campsite had completely changed. The singing had stopped, to be replaced by screams and the sound of people running.

I slipped down from my bunk, and reached for my jeans. "There isn't time, Max! Just grab a jacket and follow me!" I grabbed my leather jacket as the others did the same. "Max, can you zip up my jacket?" Angel asked, sounding panicked. I hurried over and quickly zipped up her jacket. "Hurry, girls!" Mr Weasley called.

"Go, go, go!" I said. I let Hermione, Ginny Nudge and Angel go ahead of me, Hermione holding tightly onto Angel's hand. After a second thought, I went back to my bed and grabbed my wand, then I hurried out quickly after Nudge.

By the light of the fire's still scattered around the campsite, I could see people running towards the wood, running from something that was coming towards us from across the field, something that was setting off odd lights and bangs like gunfire. Loud shouts, roars of laughter, and drunken yells were drifting towards us. Then came a burst of strong green light, which illuminated the scene.

There was a crowd of wizards walking closely together, with their wands pointed upwards. I squinted at them, not believing what I was seeing.

They didn't seem to have faces. Then I realized that they were all wearing masks like skulls, and had their hoods up over their heads. High above us were four struggling figures were being contorted into strange, ugly shapes. It was as if the people on the ground were the puppeteers, and the people in the air were the marionettes being controlled by invisible strings. Two of the figures were very small, like children.

More wizards were joining the others, laughing at the floating figures. Tents crumpled and feel as the people in the masks walked over them, setting them alight and blasting them away with their wands. The screaming grew louder.

"Oh, my gosh!" Nudge gasped, looking at the floating figures. "Max! Look who it is!"

They were illuminated by the light from a tent on fire. I recognized one of them- it was Mr Roberts. The other three must be his wife and children. "That's horrible," I said.

One of the marchers flipped Mrs Roberts upside down, making her nightdress fall down so that her knickers were on full display. She tried desperately to cover herself as the crowd below her cat-called and shouting with glee.

"That's sick," Ron said from behind us, as he, Harry, Fang, Iggy and the Gasman joined us. We watched as the smallest Muggle child started spinning round and round, sixty feet from the ground, his head lolling limply from side to side. "That's really sick..."

Bill, Charlie, and Percy came hurrying out of their tent, fully dressed and with their wands in their hands.

"We're going to go help the ministry!" Bill said.

"You're all to go into the woods and stay together. I'll come fetch you when this is all sorted out!" Mr Weasley said. Bill, Charlie, and Percy started sprinting towards the masked marchers and Mr Weasley tore after them. Other Ministry workers were already hurrying to the source of trouble. The crowd beneath the Roberts family were growing closer.

"C'mon," Fred said, grabbing onto Ginny's hand and he started jogging slowly towards the woods. The rest of us followed, avoiding other panicking people, and rushing towards the woods so we didn't loose the others. When we reached the tree's, we looked back. The crowd beneath the Roberts was bigger than ever, and Ministry workers were trying to get to them.

The colored lanterns that had lit the path were extinguished. Dark figures were running around the tree's; children were crying; scared voices were calling out in the night for their friends. I could feel myself being pushed around by other people who's faces I couldn't see. Then I heard Ron scream in pain.

"What happened?" Hermione asked, stopping so fast that Harry walked into her. "Ron? Where are you? What happened? Oh, this is stupid- _lumos!" _ Her wand lit up and she pointed it to the ground. Ron was lying sprawled on the ground, rubbing his foot.

"Tripped over a tree root," he grunted, getting to his feet.

"Slick," Gazzy cackled. "Oh, shut up," Ron said, but he was grinning.

"Well, with feet that size, it'll be hard not to trip," came a drawling voice from behind us. We all turned around. Draco Malfoy was standing alone, leaning against a tree, looking completely relaxed. His arms were folded and he seemed to be enjoying what he was seeing in the campsite.

I covered Angel's ears as Ron told Malfoy to do something he would never of said in front of Mrs Weasley.

"Language, Weasley, there a youngsters around," Malfoy said, looking at Angel and Gazzy.

"We might be younger than you, but we're definitely smarter...and better looking," the Gasman said.

Malfoy sneered at him, but couldn't think of anything insulting to tell him, seeing as he didn't know anything about him. So he just settled with saying, "Shouldn't you all be getting a move on?You wouldn't want them spotted, would you?"

He was looking at Iggy and Hermione, but mostly Hermione. At the same moment, a blast like a bomb came from the campsite.

"What's that meant to mean?" Hermione snapped defiantly. "Granger, they're after Muggles," Malfoy said, "D'you wanna be showing your knickers in mid-air? And what about you, Griffiths? Because if you do, just wait here. They're moving this way, and it would give us all a great laugh."

"Hermione's a witch, and Iggy's a wizard, Malfoy. Or have the last three years of them being at a magic school just left your mind?" I said.

"Have it your way, Ride," Malfoy said, grinning, "If you don't think they can spot a Mudblood, stay where you are."

"You watch your mouth!" Ron snapped. Everyone knew that `Mudblood' was a very offensive word for someone who was Muggle-born, like Hermione and Iggy.

"Never mind, Ron," Hermione said, glaring at Malfoy as she grabbed Ron's arm back so he wouldn't pounce on Malfoy.

There came another bang from outside the woods that was louder than any of the others we've heard. Several people screamed. Malfoy laughed.

"Scare easily, don't they?" he said. "I suppose your daddy told you to stay here? What's he trying to do- save the Muggles?"

"And what are your parents up to?" Fang asked, "Out there wearing the masks?"

Malfoy turned to Fang, grinning, "Well, if they were, why would I tell you Martinez?"

"Oh, this is stupid," Hermione said, looking at Malfoy in disgust, "We need to find Fred, George and Ginny."

"Keep that bushy head down, Granger," Malfoy said.

"You can go shove that branch up your skinny as-" I started, but Harry grabbed my hand and dragged me forward with him. "Let's go," he said.

We walked further up the path, and when we were out of earshot, Iggy snapped, "I bet you anything his dad is one of those people in the masks!"

"Well, hopefully the Ministry will catch them all," Angel said.

"Oh, I can't believe this!" Hermione said hotly. "Where have the others gotten to?"

Fred, George and Ginny were nowhere to be seen, even though the path was crowded with people. There were a few teenage boys standing close by, babbling away in French, and they were all very good looking. I tripped over a tree root, like Ron, while I was looking over my shoulder to get a better look at the boys. Nudge snickered.

I turned forward in time to see a girl with curly brown hair approach us. When she was in front of us, she asked, "O? Est Madame Maxime? Nous I'avons perdue-"

"Er- what?" Gazzy said bluntly.

"Oh," the girl said, turned around and walked back to him, and we could distinctly hear her say, "Ogwarts..."

"Beauxbatons," Hermione said.

"Bless you," Iggy said.

"No- They must go to Beauxbatons," Hermione said, "You know...Beauxbatons Academy of Magic. I read all about it in Appraisal of Magical Education in Europe."

"Oh, yeah, right," Iggy said.

"Fred and George couldn't have gotten very far," I said, lighting my wand like Hermione's. The other's copied me (well, obviously not the Gasman or Angel), but Harry was still looking in his pockets five minutes later. "Something wrong?" I asked.

"I can't believe it- I've lost my wand!" Harry said.

"You're joking!"

We all raised our wands down the path. Harry looked all around him, but I couldn't see his wand anywhere.

"Maybe it's in your tent," I said.

"It could of fallen out of your pocket when we were running," Ron suggested.

"Yeah," Harry said, "Maybe."

A rustling noise in the tree's nearby made us all jump. We turned around to see Winky the house-elf stumble out of the trees. She was moving very strangely, as if she was finding it difficult to walk; it looked like someone invisible was holding her back.

"There is bad wizards about!" she squealed. "There is people-people high in the air! Winky is getting out of the way!"

And she disappeared into the tree's, panting and gasping as she tried to fight against whatever was holding her back.

"What's wrong with her?" I asked, "Why isn't she walking properly?"

"She probably never asked for permission to hide," Harry said, probably thinking about Dobby. Whenever he did something that he hadn't asked permission for, he would try to hurt himself.

"You know, house-elves get treated very badly!" Hermione said, "It's slavery, that's what it is! Mr Crouch made her go up to the Top Box, knowing she was terrified of heights, and never even showed up, and now he has her bewitched so she can't run away when there are people trampling on tents! Why doesn't anyone do anything about it?"

"Well, house-elves are happy, aren't they?" Ron said, "You heard Winky in the Top Box."

"House-elves only say they're happy because they've never known a different life. They've been cleaning, and cooking, and being slaves their entire lives! Winky said that Dobby was happy now that he was free. So if house-elves just get treated a little better, there wouldn't be a problem! Hermione has a point!" I snapped, entirely agreeing with Hermione.

"It's people like you, Ron," Hermione went on, grinning at me for helping her, "Who make all these stupid unjust systems! Just because you're so lazy to do anything for yourself-"

There was another loud bang from the edge of the woods.

"Let's keep walking, shall we?" Fang said, casting me and Hermione nervous glances. I couldn't help wondering if Malfoy was right. Were Hermione and Iggy really in more danger than the rest of us?

We followed the dark path deeper into the woods, keeping a look out for Fred, George and Ginny. We saw a group of goblins who were cackling at a sack of gold they had clearly won from the match. Further up the forest were three, tall, beautiful veela's standing in a clearing surrounded by a group of young men that were goggling at them.

"I pull out around a hundred sacks of Galleons a year!" One of them yelled.

"I'm a dragon killer for the Committee for the Disposal of Dangerous Creatures!"

"No you're not!" the guys friend yelled. "You wash dishes at the Leaky Cauldron! But me... I'm a vampire killer! I've killed about ninety so far!"

A third young wizard, who's spots were visible even in the dark light, shouted, "I'm about to become the youngest ever Minister of Magic, I am!"

Beside me, Harry snorted with laughter. He turned his head to look at Ron, but Ron then shouted, "I invented a broomstick that can travel to Jupiter!"

Before Iggy said something, I grabbed his arm and pulled him forward. "Honestly!" Hermione muttered. By the time the voices of the veela and their admirers faded away, we were in the very heart of the forest, and completely alone. Everything was so much more quieter now.

"We should stay here," Harry said, "We'd be able to hear anything a mile off."

"Hey Angel, did you pick anything up from the people in the masks?" I asked.

She shook her head, her curls flopping over her head, "I couldn't get anything from them. It was like they were dead, or just turned their minds off. It was like the Malfoy's at the match, and some other people in the Top Box," Angel explained.

"Maybe wizards can block out people that can read minds? Like, using a spell or something?" the Gasman said. "Yeah, maybe," I said. The words had hardly left my mouth when we were interrupted by Bagman, who came bursting through the trees.

"Who's that?" he asked, trying to make out our faces. "What are you all doing here, on your own?"

"There's kinda riot going on," Iggy said. Bagman blinked, and asked, "What?"

"At the campsite. Some people have got a hold on a Muggle family," Fang said.

Bagman swore loudly, then Disapparated with a faint _pop._

"Not exactly on top of things, is he?" Nudge said, frowning.

"He was an excellent Beater, though," Ron said, leading the way over to a small clearing and sitting down in the grass, "The Wimbourne Wasps won the league three years in a row when he was with them."

He took out his tiny figure of Krum, let it on the ground and watched it walk around. It was duck-footed, like the real life Krum, not as graceful as he was on a broomstick. I was listening out for any noises from the campsite, but it seemed quiet. Maybe the riot was over.

"I hope the others aren't hurt," Angel said after a while.

"They'll be fine," Iggy said, putting a brotherly arm around Angel.

"Imagine how wicked it would be if your dad caught Lucius Malfoy," Harry said, sitting down beside Ron. "He always said he'd love to get something over him."

"That would wipe the smirk off old Draco's face, alright," I said, sitting beside him. The others sat in a wide circle around the clearing.

"The poor Muggles though," Hermione said anxiously, "What if they can never get them down?"

"They will," Ron said reassuringly, "Of course they will."

"It's mad though," Fang said, "That they'd do something like that on a night when the whole Ministry of Magic is here. I mean, how did they get passed all the protection-?" he broke off, looking over his shoulder into the tree's. We all looked around too. It sounded as if someone was staggering around in the bushes in the clearing, but we couldn't see anything. We waited, holding our breath, wands held tightly, listening to the footsteps. But them the footsteps came to a sudden halt.

"Hello?" Harry called. There was silence.

Harry climbed to his feet, looking into the trees. It was too dark to see very far, even for the flock, but we could all sense someone standing just where we couldn't see. "Who's there?" Harry said.

Then without warning, the silence was broken by a voice unlike any other that we've heard in the woods. It shouted, not a panicked yell, but what sounded like a spell. "_MORSMORDRE!" _Something big, green and glittering erupted from the patch of darkness. It flew over the treetops and into the sky.

"What the-?" Gazzy gasped, climbing to his feet.

"Oh no," Ron said, staring at the thing in the sky with wide eyes.

For a second, I thought it was another leprechaun formation. Then I realized it was a massive green skull, made of what looked like stars, with a serpent slithering out of it's mouth like a tongue. As we watched it, it rose higher and higher into the sky, etched against the black sky like one of the constellations Jeb used to teach the flock every night.

Suddenly, the entire forest erupted in screams. I didn't get why, but the only reason had to be the only reason was the sudden appearance of the skull, which was now so high in the sky that it was illuminating the entire forest. I scanned the trees for the person that had conjured it, but I didn't see anyone.

"Who's there?" I shouted.

"Max, come on, move!" Hermione said, tugging on my sleeve.

"What's wrong?" I asked, startled by how terrified and pale Hermione looked.

"What is that skull thing?" Harry asked, coming up behind me.

"It's the Dark Mark!" Hermione moaned. "You-Know-Who's sign!"

"Voldemort's-"

"Harry, come on!" Hermione snapped. Ron stooped down and picked up his small Krum figure, and followed us out of the clearing. We had barely taken ten steps when there was a series of loud popping, announcing the arrival of twenty or so wizards, appearing from thin air, surrounding us. I whirled around, taking in the fact that every single wizard had a wand pointing at us.

Without thinking, I yelled, "DUCK!" I pulled Harry and Hermione down with me, and saw the others dropping to the ground too.

_"STUPEFY!" _yelled twenty different voices at the same time. There was a series of blinding flashes and I felt my hair fly around my back as if a sudden wind swept through the clearing. I raised my head slightly, and saw jet's of fiery red light flying all over the clearing, bouncing off the trees and rebounding into the darkness. Then we heard a familiar voice shouting, "Stop! STOP! That's my son!"

I felt my hair stop flying about and raised my head higher. The wizards around us were lowering their wands. I rolled over and saw Mr Weasley jogging towards us, looking terrified but furious.

"Kids! Are you alright?" he asked, helping us to our feet.

"Out of the way, Arthur," came a cold voice. It was Mr Crouch. He and the other Ministry workers were closing in on us. Crouch's face was purple with rage. Angel walked slowly over to me, and took my hand.

"Which of you did it?" Crouch shouted, "Which one of you conjured it?"

"We didn't do that!" Harry said, gesturing up at the skull.

"We never did anything!" I snapped, "Why did you attack us?"

"Do not lie, miss!" Crouch yelled, pointing his wand right at my face, his eyes popping- he looked mental. "You have been discovered at the scene of the crime!"

"How do you think we did that?" I cried, "We're kids! Ages fourteen to _six! _How are we meant to know how to do Voldemort's mark?"

A witch standing beside Crouch winced at Voldemort's name, but said, "Barty, the girl has a point. They're children. They'd never be able to conjure the Mark."

"Where did the Mark come from?" Mr Weasley said.

"Over there," Hermione said, pointing to the clearing. "There was someone in the trees. They shouted words- an incantation."

"Oh, stood over there, did he?" Crouch said, looking at Hermione, disbelief etched on his face. "Said an incantation, did he? You seem to know a fair bit about the Dark Mark is summoned, missy-"

"But you need to say an incantation to do a spell!" I said, nearly laughing at how mad Crouch was sounding.

"I don't like your tone, missy!" Crouch said.

"I don't like your mustache," I said evenly.

"Listen here-" Crouch started, but stopped when all the Ministry workers raised their lit wands to the patch of trees Hermione had pointed out. None of them seemed to believe that it was us that conjured the Dark Mark.

"We're too late," a witch said, "They'll have Disapparated."

"I don't think so," said a wizard with a scrubby beard. It was Amos Diggory, Cedric's father. "Our Stunners went right through the trees. Might of hit him."

"Amos, be careful!" said a few wizards warningly as Diggory squared his shoulders, raised his wands, marched across the clearing and disappeared into the trees. Hermione watched him walked away with a hand over her mouth. A few seconds later, we heard Diggory shouting, "Aha! Yes, we've got them! There's someone here! Unconscious! It's- but- blimey..."

"You've got someone?" shouted Crouch, sounding disbelieving. "Who? Who is it?"

We heard snapping twigs, the rustling of leaves, and then the footsteps of Diggory as he emerged from the trees. He was carrying a tiny, limp body in his arms. I recognized the tea-towel at once.

It was Winky.

Crouch didn't move or speak as Diggory dumped Winky at Crouch's feet. The other Ministry workers were staring at Crouch, speechless. For a few seconds, Crouch stayed transfixed, his eyes blazing in his white face as he stared at Winky. Then it was like he came back to life.

"This-cannot-be," he said jerkily. "No-"

He quickly strode off to where Diggory found Winky.

"No point, Crouch," Diggory called after him, "No one else there!" But Crouch didn't seem to want to take his word for it. We could hear him walking around in the trees, pushing bushes aside, searching.

"Bit embarrassing," Diggory said grimly, looking down at Winky's unconscious form.

"Barty Crouch's own house-elf...I mean to say..."

"Come off it, Amos," Mr Weasley said, "You can't possibly believe the elf did it? The Dark Mark is a wizards sign. It requires a wand."

"Yeah," Diggory said, "And she had a wand."

"What?"

"Here, look," Diggory said, holding up a wand to show Mr Weasley. "Had it in her hand. So that's clause three of the Code of Wand Use broken, for a start. No non-human creature is permitted to carry a wand."

Just then, there was a loud pop and Bagman Apparated beside Mr Weasley. Looking breathless and disorientated, he spun on the spot, goggling at the green-skull in the sky.

"The Dark Mark!" he gasped, "Who did it? Did you get them? Barty! What's happening?"

Crouch returned empty-handed. His face was still white and his hands were trembling.

"Where have you been, Barty?" Bagman asked, "Why weren't you at the match? Your elf was at the match, saving you a seat- jumping gargoyles!" Bagman had only just noticed Winky lying on the ground, "What happened to her?"

"I have been busy, Ludo," Crouch said, still talking in a jerky manner, "As for my elf- well, she has been stunned."

"Stunned? By you guys? But why-?" Comprehension dawned on Bagman's face; he looked up at the skull, then down at Winky.

"No!" he gasped, "Winky? Conjure the Dark Mark? She wouldn't know how! She'd need a wand for a start-"

"She had one," Diggory said, "I found her holding one, Ludo. If it's okay with you, Barty, I think we should hear what she has to say for herself."

Crouch gave no sign that he heard Diggory, but Diggory seemed to take his silence for assent. He raised his own wand, pointed it at Winky and said, "_Ennervate!" _Winky stirred feebly. Her giant brown eyes opened and she blinked a few times before in a bemusement way. Watched by all the wizards around her, she raised herself shakily into a sitting position.

She saw Diggory's feet, and slowly raised her big eyes to look at his face. Then, even more slowly, she looked up at the sky. I could see the skull reflected in her massive, glassy brown eyes. She gasped, looked around the crowded clearing and burst into terrified tears.

"Elf!" Diggory said sternly. I wanted to punch him. "Do you know who I am? I am a member of the Department for the Regulations and Control of Magical Creatures!"

Winky began to rock backward and forward on the ground, her breath coming in sharp gasps.

"As you see, elf, the Dark Mark has been conjured here just a short while ago," Diggory went on, "And you were discovered, moments later, right beneath it! An explanation if you please!"

"I-I-I is not doing it, sir!" Winky gasped, "I is not knowing how sir!"

"You were found with a wand in your hand!" Diggory snapped, waving the wand in front of Winky's face. The wand flashed in the light from the green skull, and it looked strangely familiar.

"Hey-that's mine!" Harry said. Everyone looked at him. "Excuse me?" Diggory asked.

"That's mine!" Harry said. "I dropped it!"

Oh God, here we go. And, as if on cue, Diggory said, "You dropped it? is this a confession? You threw it aside after you conjured the Dark Mark?"

"Amos, look at who you're talking to!" Mr Weasley said. "Do you really think Harry Potter is likely to conjure You-Know-Who's Mark?"

"Er- oh, of course not," Diggory mumbled, "Sorry- got a bit carried away..."

"Oh, you don't say," I said sarcastically. Diggory glared at me, but before he could say something stupid, Harry said, "I didn't drop it there anyway." he jerked his thumb towards the trees. "I only noticed it was gone when we got into the woods."

"So?" Diggory said, his eyes hardening when he looked back at Winky, who was sobbing on the ground, clutching her knees to her chest, "You found this wand, did you, elf? And you picked it up, thought you could have some fun with it, did you?"

"I is not doing magic, sir!" Winky squealed, tears running down her face onto her tea-towel. "I is- I is- I is just picking it up, sir! I is not making the Dark Mark sir, I is not knowing how!"

"It wasn't her!" Hermione said. She looked nervous, yet determined all the same, "Winky's voice is very squeaky and high, and the voice we heard saying the spell was very deep, and definitely a male!" She looked around at us for support. "It didn't sound anything like Winky, did it?"

"Not one bit," I said, impressed with Hermione.

"It wasn't an elf," Harry said.

"Definitely human," Nudge added.

"Well, we'll soon see," Diggory said, looking like he didn't believe a word we were saying. "There's a simple way of discovering the last spell a wand cast, elf, did you know that?"

That was it. "Will you stop calling her `elf'! She has a name, you know, or are you too stupid to know that!" I snapped.

"Max!" Mr Weasley said sternly. I closed my mouth, giving Diggory my death glare. I was glad to see him look slightly nervous.

Winky was trembling as Diggory raised his own wand and placed it tip-to-tip on Harry's.

"_Prior Incantato!" _Diggory said. Hermione gasped, horrified; a gigantic green serpent-tongued skull came from the wand, but it was a mere shadow of the green skull in the air above us, like the ghost of a spell.

"_Deletrius!" _Diggory said, and the smoky skull vanished.

"So," Diggory said with a savage triumph, looking down at Winky who was shaking.

"I is not doing it!" she squealed hysterically, "I is not! I is not, I is not knowing how! I is a good elf! I ain't using wands! I isn't knowing how!"

"You've been caught red-handed, elf!" Diggory shouted.

"Her name is Winky!" Angel said savagely. Diggory ignored her.

"You've been caught with a guilty wand in your hand!" Diggory said.

"Amos," Mr Weasley said loudly, "Think about it. Only a few wizards know how to cast that spell. Where would she have learnt it?"

"Perhaps Amos is suggesting," Crouch said slowly, cold anger in every word, "that I teach my servants to conjure the Dark Mark?"

There was a really awkward silence. Diggory was looking horrified. "Mr Crouch...not...not at all..."

"You have come close to accusing the two people in this clearing who are least likely to conjure the Mark!" Crouch barked. "Harry Potter-and myself. I suppose you are familiar with the boy's story, Amos?"

"Of course- everyone knows," Diggory said, looking uncomfortable.

"And I trust you remember the many proofs I have given, over an extremely long career, that I despise the Dark Arts and those who practice them?" Crouch said, his mustache twitching and his eyes popping.

"Mr Crouch, I-I never suggested you had anything to do with this!" Diggory muttered again, blushing underneath his scrubby beard.

"If you accuse my elf, you accuse me, Amos!" Crouch shouted. "Where else would she have learnt how to do it?" I was glad someone other than us was standing up for Winky.

"She might've picked it up from anywhere-"

"Precisely, Amos," Diggory said, "She might've picked it up from anywhere...Winky?" Mr Weasley said kindly, turning to the elf. She flinched as if he was shouting at her too. "Where did you find Harry's wand?"

Winky was twisting the end of her tea-towel. "I-I was finding it...finding it there, sir..." she whispered. "There... in the trees."

"You see, Amos," Mr Weasley said, straightening up. "Whoever conjured the Mark Disapparated right after they did it, leaving Harry's wand behind. A clever thing to do, not using their own wand, which would have only betrayed them. And Winky here was unfortunate enough to pick it up."

"But then she could of only been feet away from the real culprit!" Diggory said. "Elf! Did you see anyone?"

I resisted telling Diggory that elf wasn't her name. Winky started trembling harder then before, and her eyes flickering from Diggory, to Bagman and finally on Crouch as she said, "I is seeing no one, sir."

"Amos," Crouch said curtly, "I am of course fully aware, in the ordinary course of events, that you would want to take Winky into your department for questioning. I ask you, however, to allow me to deal with her."

Diggory looked like he didn't like the suggestion at all, but it was clear that Crouch was an important man in the Ministry and he didn't dare refuse him.

"You may be rest assured that she will be punished," Crouch said.

"M-m-master..." Winky stammered, looking up at Crouch, her eyes filling with tears. "M-master...p-p-please..."

Crouch stared back, his eyes sharpened. There was no pity in his face.

"Winky has behaved tonight in a way I would not have believed possible," Crouch said slowly. "I told her to remain in the tent. I told her to stay there while I dealt with the chaos. And I find now that she disobeyed me. This mean clothes."

"No!" shrieked Winky, "No, master! Not clothes, not clothes!"

I knew that the only way to free a house-elf was to give them clothes. It was pitiful to see the way Winky clutched her tea-towel and sobbed over Crouch's feet.

"But she was scared!" I said angrily. "She was scared that there was a riot going on, and wanted to make sure she didn't get hurt! You can't blame her for that!"

"And she's frightened of heights! And you made her stay in the Top Box during the match! And those people are levitating people high in the air!" Hermione said.

Crouch stepped away from Winky, freeing himself from contact with the elf, who he was surveying as though he was something horrible on the bottom of his shoes. "I have no need for a house-elf that disobeys me," he said, looking at me and Hermione. "I have no use for a servant who forgets what is due to her master, and her masters reputation."

Winky was crying so hard that her sobs echoed around the clearing. There was a nasty silence, which was ended by Mr Weasley saying, "Well, I think I'll take my lot back to our tents, if no one objects. Amos, the wand has told us everything it can- if Harry could have it back, please." Diggory gave Harry back his wand, and Harry stuffed it onto his jacket pocket.

"Come on, then," Mr Weasley said. I picked Angel up and placed her on my hip, still staring at the sobbing Winky, anger coursing through my veins. Hermione didn't seem to want to move, and she was staring at Winky too. "Hermione, Max, let's go!" Mr Weasley called. We turned and walked over to the others, out of the clearing and out through the trees.

"What's going to happen to Winky?" Hermione asked.

"I don't know," Mr Weasley said, walking very fast.

"They way they were treating her!" Hermione said. "Mr Diggory calling her elf all the time...and Mr Crouch! He knows she didn't do anything, and he's still sacking her! He didn't care that she was terrified, or really upset- it was like she wasn't even human!"

"Well, she isn't human," Ron said.

Hermione rounded on him, furious. "It doesn't mean she doesn't have feeling, Ron-"

"I agree with you, Hermione," Mr Weasley said, beckoning her on, "but now is not the time to talk about elf rights. I want to get back to the tent as fast as possible. What happened to the others?"

"We lost them in the dark," Iggy said.

"Dad, why was everyone so uptight about the skull thing?" Ron asked.

"I'll explain everything back in the tent," Mr Weasley said. But when we reached the tent, we had to slow town considerably. A large crowd of frightened witches and wizards were walking everywhere, and when they saw Mr Weasley walking out of the trees, loads of them surged towards us.

"What's going on?"

"Who conjured it?"

"Arthur, it isn't- it isn't Him, is it?"

"Of course it isn't Him," Mr Weasley said, "We don't know who it is. Looks like they Disapparated. Now, excuse me, I'd like to go to bed."

He led us all through the crowd back to the campsite. All was quiet now; there wasn't any sign of the masked wizards, though several tents were still smoking. Charlie's head was poking out of the boys tent.

"Dad, what's going on? Fred, George and Ginny got back okay, but the others-"

"I've got them here," Mr Weasley said, entering the tent. We all walking in after him.

Bill was sitting at the table, holding a bed sheet to his arm, which was bleeding heavily. Charlie's shirt was ripped, and Percy's nose was bleeding. The twins and Ginny were fine, but shaken.

"Did you get them?" Bill asked, "Whoever conjured the Dark Mark?"

"No," Mr Weasley said, "We found Barty Crouch's elf with Harry's wand, but we don't know who actually conjured the Mark."

"What?" Bill, Charlie and Percy said together. "Harry's wand?"

"Mr Crouch's elf?" Percy asked.

With some help from us, Mr Weasley explained everything that happened in the woods.

"Well, Mr Crouch was quite right to get rid of an elf like that!" Percy said, "Running away when he told her not to! Embarrassing him in front of the Ministry like that...how that would of looked, if she was brought in front of the Department for the Regulation and Control-"

"She never did anything!" I snapped, putting Angel on the ground. "She was just in the wrong place at the wrong time! She never did anything wrong!"

"Max, a wizard in Mr Crouch's position can't afford to have an elf who's running amok with a wand!" Percy said.

"She wasn't running amok!" Hermione said angrily, "She just picked it up!" Everyone was taken aback. Normally, Hermione and Percy got along very well.

"Look, can someone just explain what that skull thing was?" Ron asked. "It wasn't hurting anyone. Why was everyone freaking out?"

"I told you, Ron, it's You-Know-Who's sign," Hermione said, still glaring at Percy.

"And it hasn't been seen for over thirteen years," Mr Weasley said, casting a side-glance at Harry, "Of course people panicked. It was like seeing You-Know-Who himself."

"I don't get it," Iggy said, "It's just a shape in the sky."

"Iggy, You-Know-Who and his followers sent that symbol into the sky whenever they killed," Mr Weasley said patiently, "It spread terror like wild fire. You have no idea, you're too young. Just imagine coming home and finding that over your house, and knowing what was waiting for you inside," Mr Weasley winced, "Everyones worst fear."

Bill, removing the blanket from his arm, said, "Well it didn't help us tonight. It scared away the Death Eaters the moment they saw it. They all Disapparated before we got to unmask any. We caught the Robert's family before they hit the ground, though. They're having their memories modified right now."

"Death Eaters?" Harry asked, "What are Death Eaters?"

"It's what You-Know-Who's followers called themselves," Charlie said. "I think we saw what was left of them tonight- the ones who managed to keep themselves out of Azkaban."

"We can't prove it was them, Charlie," Mr Weasley said, "Though it was probably was," she said after a second thought.

"Yeah, I bet it was!" Ron said, "Dad, we met Draco Malfoy in the woods, and he as good as told us his dad was one of the masked people! And we all know the Malfoy's were pretty close with You-Know-Who!"

"But what were Voldemort's-" everyone flinched apart from the flock, "Sorry," Harry added quickly, "What were You-Know-Who's supporters up to, levitating Muggles? I mean, what's the point?"

"The point?" Mr Weasley said, giving a dry laugh. "Harry, that's their idea of fun! Have the Muggles killing back when You-Know-Who was in power was for fun. I suppose they had a few drinks and couldn't resist reminding us all what it was like when they were at large."

"But wouldn't they be happy if they saw the Dark Mark?" Ron asked.

"Think, Ron!" Mr Weasley said. "If they really were Death Eaters, they've worked very hard these past few years to keep out of Azkaban, and told all sorts of lies about You-Know-Who forcing them to kill and torture people. They'd probably be even more frightened then the rest of us if he ever came back. They denied ever being involved with him. I don't reckon he wouldn't be very please with them, do you?"

"So...whoever conjured the Dark Mark, were they doing it as support for the Death Eaters, or to scare them away?" Hermione asked.

"Your guess is as good as mine, Hermione," Mr Weasley said. "But I'll tell you this. It was only the Death Eaters that knew how to conjure it back in the days. I bet the person that did it was either a Death Eater before, or is still one now. Listen, it's very late and if your mother heard about what happened, she'd be very worried. We'll get another few hours sleep, then get an early Portkey out of here."

I went back to my bunk, my mind buzzing. I knew I ought to feel exhausted, it was nearly three in the morning, but I felt wide awake. And worried.

On the day I found out Sirius was my father, our Divination teacher, Sybill Trelawney, made a prediction that Voldemort would come back with the help of his servant. Peter Pettigrew escaped that night too. What if he was coming back? What if the Dark Mark was a sign?

It was a long time before I finally feel asleep.

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><p><em><strong>Sorry this took so long! It's such a long chapter, and typing with two broken fingers is a bit awkward, hard nd slow!<strong>_

_**Anyway, hope everyone liked the chapter!**_

_**Review and you get free cookies and butterbeer! So...**_

_**REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW!**_

_**lOvE yOu!**_

_**-Rach ;)**_


	7. The Disgusting Robes

**AUTHORS NOTE :P**

**_Hello! Here is the next chapter! Hope everyone likes it :)_  
><strong>

**_Thanks for all the reviews about my broken fingers. There a bit better now, but it'll be another while before I can actually use them properly, so typing is still a bit awkward and sore, but nothing will stop me from writing this story!_**

**_Now to answer some reviews..._**

**_AnikaandAj: I would love to do Taekwondo, or Karate or any martial arts! _**

**_Arkell26: thanks :) but we lost the semi-final at school... we were playing the team that won the league last year, so really we shouldn't of been playing them, but oh well! I've still got my local club!_**

**_florafan199914: no, only Iggy and Hermione are Muggle-born. I guess I should of said that earlier... But they're the only Muggle-borns. You'll find out about the others later on in the series :D_**

**_Anyway, enjoy the chapter, and the cookies and butterbeer!_**

**_-Rach ;)_**

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><p><strong><em>Max's<em> POV**

We were woken by Mr Weasley after only a few hours sleep. He used magic to pack everything away quickly, and to take down the tent and we left the campsite as fast as possible, passing Mr Roberts on the way out at the door of his cottage. Mr Roberts looked very dazed, and mumbled "Merry Christmas," to us when we walked passed him.

"Is he going to be okay?" Ginny asked, looking over her shoulder at him.

"I'm sure he'll be fine," Mr Weasley said quietly as we marched across the moor. "Sometimes when a persons memory is modified, it makes him a bit disorientated for a while...and that was a bit memory they made him forget."

We heard loud, urgent voices as we approached the area where the Portkeys were, and when we reached it we saw a large number of witches and wizards gathered around Basil, all desperate to get away as fast as possible. Mr Weasley had a hurried discussion with Basil; we joined the queue and we were able to take an old tire back to Stoatshed Hill before the sun had fully risen.

I was walking around like a zombie, yawning every few minutes. No one should have to wake up this early. It was terrible. I pulled my long hair back into a messy bun before taking hold of the Portkey.

We walked back through Ottery St. Catchpole and up the damp lane toward the Burrow. None of us were talking that much, even Nudge was remaining silent, because we were all so exhausted and hungry. As we turned the corner and the Burrow came into view, we heard a relieved cry.

"Oh, thank God! Thank goodness!"

Mrs Weasley, who had been waiting for us in the front garden, came running towards us in her slippers, her face pale and strained, a copy of the _Daily Prophet _clutched tightly in her hand.

"Arthur- I've been so worried-"

She flung her arms around Mr Weasley's neck, and the _Daily Prophet_ feel to the ground. Looking down at it, I read the headline: _SCENE OF TERROR AT THE QUIDDITCH WORLD CUP, _complete with a picture of the Dark Mark in the sky.

"You're alright," Mrs Weasley muttered, letting go of Mr Weasley and hugging her sons and daughter with tears in her eyes. "You're alive..."

Then, to everyone's surprise, she pulled Fred and George into back-breaking hugs.

"Ouch! Mum- you're strangling us!"

"I shouted at you before you left!" Mrs Weasley sobbed, "It's all I was thinking about. What if You-Know-Who had gotten you, and the last thing I ever said to you was that you didn't get enough O.W.L's. Oh, Fred, George."

"Come on, now Molly, we're all fine," Mr Weasley said soothingly, prying her away from the twins and leading her back to the house. "Bill," he said, looking over his shoulder, "Pick up that paper. I want to read it."

When we were all crammed into the small kitchen, and Hermione had made Mrs Weasley a cup of strong coffee, into which Mr Weasley added a small bit of Ogden's Old Firewhiskey, Bill gave his father the newspaper. Mr Weasley scanned the front page while Percy read it over his shoulder.

"I knew it," Mr Weasley sighed heavily, "Ministry blunders...culprits not apprehended. Lax security...Dark Wizards running unchecked...national disgrace...Who wrote this? Ah...Of course, Rita Skeeter."

"That woman has it in for the Ministry of Magic!" Percy said furiously. "Last week she was saying we were wasting our time about cauldron thickness, when we should be stamping out vampires! As if it wasn't specifically stated in paragraph twelve for the Guidelines for the Treatment of Non-Wizard Part-Humans-"

"Do us a favor, Perce," said Bill, yawning, "and shut up." We all snickered.

"I'm mentioned," Mr Weasley said, his eyes wide.

"Where?" spluttered Mrs Weasley. "If I saw that, I would of known you were all alive!"

"I'm not mentioned by name," Mr Weasley said, "Listen: _'If the terrified wizards and witches who waited breathlessly for news at the edge of the wood expected reassurance from the Ministry ofMagic, they were sadly disappointed. A Ministry official emerged some time after the appearance of the Dark Mark alleging that nobody had been hurt, but reflising to give any more information. Whether this statement will be enough to quash the rumors that several bodies were removed from the woods an hour later, remains to be seen.'_ Oh, really, no one was hurt! What was I meant to say? Rumors that several bodies were removed from the woods...well, there certainly will be rumors now after she wrote that."

He sighed deeply. "Molly, I'm going to have to go into the office; this is going to take some smoothing over."

"I'll come with you, Father," Percy said importantly, "Mr Crouch will need everyone there today, you know, all hands on deck. And I can give him my cauldron report in person."

He bustled out of the kitchen. Mrs Weasley looked very upset. "Surely this doesn't concern you! You're on holiday! This hasn't anything to do with your office!"

"I've got to go, Molly," Mr Weasley said, "I made things worse. I'll change my robes and be off."

"Mrs Weasley," Harry said suddenly, "Hedwig hasn't come with a letter for me, has she?"

"No dear she hasn't," Mrs Weasley said, watching as her husband climbed the stairs. "There hasn't been any post at all."

I looked at him suspiciously, so did Ron, Hermione, and the rest of the flock. Sensing our looks, Harry said, "Alright if I dump my stuff in your room Ron?"

"Of course," Ron said, looking confused. Getting what Harry was trying to do, I said, "Yeah, we should all put our stuff away. Come on, Angel." We gabbed our bags and walked up the stairs. On the way to Ron's attic room, we put our things in our rooms as we passed them. Once Ron's bedroom door was closed, he asked, "What's up, Harry?"

"There's something I haven't told you guys," Harry said, casting a weary glance at Nudge, Gazzy and Angel. "Whatever you can tell them, you can tell us," Nudge said at once, seeing Harry's look as well.

"I know, Nudge," Harry said, smiling apologetically. "So, what didn't you tell us?" I asked.

"On Saturday morning, I woke up and my scar was hurting again."

There was a moments silence. Harry got his lightening shaped scar on his forehead when Voldemort failed to kill him. Generally, when it hurt him, it meant something bad and dangerous was close, or even Voldemort himself.

Hermione was the first to break the spell. She covered her mouth with her hands, but she was still making suggestions to read things in books I've never heard of, and talking to Dumbledore (the Headmaster of Hogwarts, who was old but awesome) and even the school nurse, Madam Pomfrey. Fang looked like he was thinking, Ron and Iggy looked thunderstruck, and Nudge and Angel looked frightened. Gazzy just looked confused.

"But he wasn't there, was he?" he asked, "Voldemort? Last time your scar hurt, he was at Hogwarts wasn't he?" Harry looked startled that the Gasman knew this, but then realized that I probably told him, along with the rest of the flock, everything.

"I'm sure he wasn't at Privet Drive," Harry said reassuringly, "But I was dreaming about him. Him and Peter- you know, Wormtail. I can't remember everything, but they were planning to kill...someone." I stared at Harry, noticing the way he hesitated, as if he was going to say something else. Beside me, Angel stifled a gasp, but after a look from Harry, she stayed quiet. You see, Angel could read minds so she probably knew what Harry was about to say before he changed his mind. I decided to question them on it later.

"It was only a dream," Ron said, "Just a nightmare." But he sounded like he was trying to convince himself more than Harry.

"Yeah, but was it though?" Harry said, turning to look out the window. "It's weird, isn't it? My scar hurts, and a few days later, Voldemort's sign is up in the sky and Death Eaters are marching around."

"Don't-say-his-name!" Ron hissed through clenched teeth.

Harry ignored him, and turned to look at me. "Remember what Professor Trelawney said last year?" Professor Trelawney was the Divination teacher at Hogwarts. Hermione's terrified expression changed as she let out a loud snort. "Oh, Harry, you aren't going to believe what that old fraud says?"

"You weren't there, Hermione," I said, "You didn't hear her. It was freaky. We told you, she went into a kind of trance, and didn't remember anything she said. She said the Dark Lord would rise again."

"Greater and more terrible than before, with his most faithful servant at his side," Harry continued, "And that night, Wormtail escaped."

There was silence while Ron fidgeted with his Chudley Cannons bedspread.

"Why did you ask if Hedwig had come, Harry?" Nudge asked, "Are you expecting a letter?"

"I wrote to Sirius about my scar," Harry said, "I'm waiting for his answer."

When Harry mentioned my father, I absentmindedly put my hand in my jeans pocket, where there was a picture of Sirius and my mother Grace.

"Good thinking!" Iggy said, " I bet Sirius would know what to do!"

"I just hope he'd write back quickly," Harry said.

"Fat chance of that happening," I said, "I sent him a letter a few days after getting back from the School, and he hasn't written back yet."

"Yeah, but we don't know where he is," Fang said, "He could be in Africa or somewhere. Hedwig or Freedom wouldn't be able to make that journey very fast."

"Yeah I know," Harry said, still staring out the window.

"We should have a game of Quidditch in the orchard," Ron suggested, "Bill, Charlie, Fred and George will play."

"Ron, Harry doesn't want to play Quidditch right now. He's worried and tired," Hermione said in a I-don't-think-you're-being-very-sensitive voice. "We should all go to bed."

"No," Harry said, "I want to play Quidditch."Hang on, I'll get my Firebolt."

We all walked out of Ron's room, excited about playing Quidditch, and the flock looking forward to spreading our wings. Hermione rolled her eyes, and muttered, "Ridiculous."

Neither Mr Weasley or Percy were home much that week (thank God for the latter). They both left the house very early in the morning before anyone else was awake, and returned well after dinner every night. "It's been an uproar," Percy told us importantly on the Sunday before we were due to return to Hogwarts. "I've been putting out fires all week. People are continuously sending in Howlers, and of course, if you don't open a Howler, they explode."

Iggy and the Gasman looked at each other and grinned. Oh good Lord, they were planning on blowing something else up. Good job, Percy.

"Why are they sending Howlers?" Ginny asked, sticking Spellotape on her book One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi which was starting to fall apart.

"Complaining about the security at the World Cup," Percy explained, "They want money back for their ruined property. Mundungus Fletcher put in a claim for a twelve-bedroomed tent with an en-suite Jacuzzi, but I've got his number. I know for a fact, that he was sleeping under a cloak propped on sticks."

Mrs Weasley looked at the clock on the wall. I liked the clock, even though it was useless if you wanted to know the time. It had fifteen golden hands, each one engraved with the names of all the Weasley's, and added recently were the names of the flock. There weren't any numbers, but descriptions of where each person might be. "Home" "School" and "Work" were on it, but also, "lost," "Travelling," "Hospital," "prison," and, "Mortal peril."

Fourteen of the hands were pointed at "Home,", but Mr Weasley's, which was the longest, was pointing at "Work."

"Your father hasn't been in the office at weekends since the days of You-Know-Who," Mrs Weasley said, " They're working him far too hard, and his dinner will be ruined if he doesn't come home soon."

"Well, Father believes he has to make up for his mistake at the match," Percy said, "If truth be told, he was quite unwise to make a public statement without clearing it with his Head of Department first-"

"Don't you dare blame your father for what that horrible Skeeter woman wrote!" Mrs Weasley snapped as I started banging my head on the table. Why couldn't it be tomorrow already, where I can get away from Percy?

"If Dad didn't say anything, then Skeeter would of said it was terrible and disgraceful that no one from the Ministry said anything," Bill said, who was playing chess with Ron, and loosing terribly.

"Rita Skeeter makes everyone look bad," Bill went on, "Remember when she interviewed all the Gringott's Charm Breakers, and called me a `long haired pillock'?"

"Well, it is a bit long, dear," Mrs Weasley said gently, "If you'd just let me-"

"No, Mum," Bill said patiently frowning as Ron made a rather complicated move.

Rain was hitting against the windows. Hermione was buried in her new copy of The Standard Book of Spells, Grade 4, the copies that Mrs Weasley bought for her, and the rest of us in Diagon Alley, Charlie was cleaning a fireproof balaclava, Harry was polishing his Firebolt, Iggy was finishing some last minute homework, Fang was helping him, and the Gasman and Angel were watching them, learning about some of the things they'd be learning in a few years. Nudge was picking out what clothes to bring with her to Hogwarts, and I was helping Mrs Weasley clean up. Fred and George, however, were sitting in the far corner, quills out, talking in whispers and their heads bent over a piece of parchment.

"What are you two up to?" Mrs Weasley called, looking at the twins.

"Homework," Fred said.

"Don't be ridiculous. You should of had you're summer homework done ages ago," Mrs Weasley said. She didn't see Iggy raise his head and glare at her.

"We left it a bit late," George said, not looking up from the parchment.

"You're not by any chance writing a new order form, are you?" Mrs Weasley asked sternly. I looked over my shoulder at the twins and smirked. Oh, they were in so much trouble now. "You're not thinking about restarting Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes, by any chance?"

"Now Mum," Fred said, his face the image of innocence as he looked at her, "If the Hogwarts Express crashed tomorrow, and George and I died, how would you feel knowing that the last thing we ever heard from you was an unfounded accusation?"

Everyone laughed, even Mrs Weasley. "They have you there Mrs Weasley," I chuckled. Mrs Weasley laughed more.

"Oh, your father is on his way!" Mrs Weasley said, looking at the clock again. Mr Weasley's hand had just moved to "travelling" and a second later, it spun around to "home", and we heard Mr Weasley calling from the kitchen.

"Coming Arthur!" Mrs Weasley called, hurrying out of the room. A few minutes later, Mr Weasley came into the room, carrying his dinner on a tray. He looked completely exhausted.

"Well, the fats really in the fire now," Mr Weasley told the room as he sat down in the armchair near the hearth and toyed with his dinner. "Rita Skeeter's been ferreting around all week, looking for more Ministry mess ups to write about. And now she's figured out about poor Bertha going missing, so that'll be in the headlines in the Prophet tomorrow. I told Bagman he should have sent someone to look for her weeks ago."

"Mr Crouch has been saying the same thing for weeks and weeks," Percy said, puffing out his chest.

"Crouch is lucky that Skeeter hasn't found out abotu Winky," Mr Weasley said irritably. "There'd be weeks worth of headlines in his house-elf being caught carrying the wand that conjured the Dark Mark."

"I thought we had agreed, that while irresponsible, the elf did not conjure the Dark Mark?" Percy said hotly.

"If you ask me, Crouch is lucky the Prophet never found out how mean and cruel he is to his elves!" Hermione said, looking over the top of her book, her eyes shining.

"Now look here, Hermione," Percy said, and I really just wanted to punch him, "A high-ranking Ministry official such as Mr Crouch deserves unswerving obedience from his servants-"

"You mean slaves!" Nudge said, "House-elves don't get payed, do they?" I smiled proudly at her for standing up for what she believes in, and her dark skin flushed happily.

"I think you'd all better go upstairs and check if you're all packed properly for tomorrow!" Mrs Weasley said, breaking up the argument just as Percy was about to say something, "Come on, all of you."

I finished putting away the plates and glasses and climbed up to my bedroom, where Hermione was putting away some last minute things. I started unwrapping the things Mrs Weasley bought us in Diagon Alley. I put the books, quills, ink and potion ingredients in my school bag, and my new robes, jumpers, jeans and uniform into my big trunk.

After all my things were packed away, I looked at the huge empty cage resting on my window sill. It's been weeks since I sent the letter to Sirius, asking about the Eraser, but Freedom hasn't returned.

"I'm sure he's fine," Hermione said, seeing where I was looking. "Freedom is a strong owl. He's be back soon."

"I know," I said, "But it's been ages, and normally Sirius would write back really fast."

"Why are you so worried about this letter?" Hermione asked. I sat on my bed, and she sat beside me.

I quickly explained about the picture, and the Eraser, and how I thought the Eraser could be my brother. Hermione gasped, and covered her mouth with her hands. "You're joking," she said, her eyes wide. I shook my head, feeling lost and confused. We were both quiet for a minute, then Hermione said, "The only thing you can do is wait for Sirius' reply."

"I know," I said.

"Let's go check on the boys, and see if their actually packing," Hermione said, taking my arm and pulling me up. But just before we could leave my room, we heard Angel screaming from her room down the hall. "Angel!" I called, and pulled open my bedroom door and ran to Angel's room, Hermione behind me. The door was open and Angel was leaning over her bed, holding onto something.

"Angel, what's wrong?" I asked.

"Look!" Angel said, shoving something into my hands. It was a bear.

"You screamed because of a bear?" I asked, raising my eyebrows at the innocent five-year old. . "Yeah, but look at it!" Angel said, bouncing up and down. Now that I knew she wasn't hurt, I had calmed down. I looked at the teddy bear closely and understood why Angel had screamed.

It was a white fluffy angel bear, with white wings, a halo, and a white dress. It was Angel.

"Where did you get this?" I asked, handing her back the bear.

"Mrs Weasley bought it for me in Diagon Alley," Angel said, cuddling the teddy bear to her chest. "Are you sure?" I asked. Last time I found something in my room I didn't buy myself, I ended up trying to kill some of my best friends.

"Yup, she just gave it to me there, but she had to get things ready for tomorrow, so she left again," Angel explained, playing with the angel bears dress. "I'm going to call her Celeste," Angel announced, bouncing up and down with excitement. Then she yawned, and rubbed her eyes sleepily. "Sweetie, maybe it's time for you to go to bed," I said.

Angel nodded. "Can you help me?" she asked, pointing to her night clothes. "Of course."

I helped Angel get dressed, then tucked her into bed. She snuggled up with Celeste, smiling happily. "Goodnight, honey," I said, kissing her forehead. "Goodnight, Angel," Hermione said. I remembered about that time in Ron's room, where she read Harry's mind, but knew now wasn't the right time to ask her about it.

"Goodnight guys," Angel mumbled, then feel asleep straight away.

I closed the door quietly behind me, and let out a relieved breath. "Jeez, I thought something happened to her," I said, my face in my hands. "She's fine, Max. Let's go up to the boys. I bet they haven't even started packing!" Hermione said. Together we walked up to Ron's room, where the boys have dubbed their hangout. We walked in just as Ron was saying, "What the hell is this supposed to be?"

He was holding up something that looked like a long, maroon velvet dress. It had a moldy-looking lace frill on the collar and matching cuffs. As soon as I saw it, I started laughing. I was laughing so hard that I feel down onto Ron's bed, holding my stomach and gasping for breath. "Is-that-yours?" I panted out.

"It could be Ginny's, or Nudge's..." Ron said.

"If Nudge has to wear that for anything, shes going to drop dead," I said, getting my breath back.

There was a knock on the door, and Mrs Weasley came in, carrying freshly laundered Hogwarts uniforms. Ours had been washed this morning.

"Here you are," she said, spreading them into four piles, "Now mind that you pack them properly so they don't crease."

"Mum, you've given me Ginny's new dress," Ron said, handing the disgusting thing to his mother.

"Of course I haven't," Mrs Weasley said, scowling, "There yours. Dress robes."

"What?" Ron said, horror-struck as I started laughing again.

"Dress robes!" Mrs Weasley said, "It says on your school list that you need dress robes this year. Robes for formal occasions for boys, and dresses for girls."

"Where are our dresses?" Hermione asked.

"I'll be sending yours later in the year," Mrs Weasley said, smirking.

"There is no way I'm wearing this!" Ron said, "No way!"

"You have to, Ron, everyone wears them!" Mrs Weasley said crossly. "Your father has some for smart parties."

"I'll go starkers before I put them on," Ron said stubbornly. "Don't be silly," Mrs Weasley said, "You've got to have dress robes. They're on your list! I got some for Harry, Fang and Iggy too! Go on, show him."

Hesitantly, the three boys opened the parcels Mrs Weasley handed them. But their wasn't as bad as Ron's; Harry's were bottle green; Fang's were fully black; Iggy's was a dark blue.

"I thought they would all suite you very well," Mrs Weasley said, smiling.

"Well, them ones are okay!" Ron said, looking at the others robes. "Why couldn't I get some like that?"

"Because...well, I had to get yours second-hand, and there wasn't much choice!" Mrs Weasley said, blushing. I looked away, and saw Harry doing the same. I knew that Harry had a large amount of money his parents left him in Gringott's, and I knew that he would willingly give most of it to the Weasley's. But we both knew they would never take it.

"I'm never wearing them," Ron said, shaking his head, "Never."

"Fine. Go naked then," Mrs Weasley said. She looked at the rest of us and said, "And make sure to get a good picture of him. Goodness knows I could use a laugh."

She left Ron's room, slamming the door behind her. There was a spluttering noise from behind us, and we turned to see Pig chocking on an overlarge owl treat.

"Why is everything I own rubbish?" Ron asked moodily as he strode over to Pig's cage to unstick Pig's beak.

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><p><em><strong>Hello! I'm really sorry this took so long! So busy with school and sports and stuff. And updating will be slower from now on because we have summer tests at the end of the month, and I need to study and our teachers will probably be laying on the homework... but i've got the summer!<strong>_

_**The next chapter will be much better! I promise!**_

_**You all know by now that when you review, you get cookies and butterbeer, so...**_

_**REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW!**_

_**LoVe YoU! :***_

_**-Rach ;)**_


	8. The Hogwarts Express

_**AUTHORS NOTE! :P**_

_**Thanks for all the reviews! And all the ones about my broken fingers! They are much better now, thanks. I'm getting the cast/tape things off in about a week :D i can't wait!**_

_**Now to answer some reviews...**_

_**AnikaandAj: I agree, but to be honest, he did have all those older brothers to compete with all the time, not to mention Ginny, the only girl in the family, and now all the members of**__**the flock moving in with them as well. Also, Ron never really thinks about those kind of things, does he? But he does act slightly bratty at times, considering that he had a great family.**_

_**Arkell26: haha tell me about it... **_

_**And thanks to everyone else that reviewed, and enjoy your cookies and butterbeer! :D**_

_**On with the chapter!**_

_**Enjoy!**_

_**-Rach ;)**_

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><p><strong>Max's POV<strong>

There was a depressing, gloomy feel in the Burrow when I woke up the next morning. There was rain lashing against the window as I climbed reluctantly out of my cosy bed and got dressed in old, dark blue jeans, a plain t-shirt, and a baggy Bon Jovi jumper that Jeb gave me from one of their concerts. I'd change into my uniform on the train.

Me and Hermione walked out of my room in silence, too tired to say anything, when we met the boys walking down from their rooms. Then we heard Mrs Weasley shouting, "Arthur! Arthur! Urgent message from the Ministry!"

I flattened myself against the wall when Mrs Weasley ran up the stairs passed us, so she would have enough room. Then Harry had to flatten himself against the other wall when Mr Weasley came rushing down the stairs with his robes on back-to-front. I shared a look with Harry, who raised his eyebrows questioningly. I just shrugged and walked into the kitchen, where we saw Mrs Weasley rummaging around in a drawer for a quill.

"I've got a quill here somewhere!" Mrs Weasley said frantically, while Mr Weasley bent over the fire, talking to- I blinked a few times to check that they were actually working properly.

Amos Diggory's head was in the middle of the flames, looking like a huge, bearded egg. It was talking very fast, completely unaware by the sparks that were flying around his head and licking his ears.

"...Muggle neighbors heard bangs and shouts, so they went off and called those, what do you call them- please-men. Arthur, you've got to get over there..."

"Here!" Mrs Weasley said, handing her husband a piece of parchment, a bottle of ink, and a quill.

"-It's a real stroke of luck I heard about it," Diggory said- well, his head said- "I had to come into the office early to send a few owls and I found the Improper Use of Magic lot all setting off- if Rita Skeeter get's hold of this one, Arthur-"

"What does Mad-Eye say happened?" asked Mr Weasley, unscrewing the ink bottle and dipping the quill in it, preparing to take notes.

Diggory rolled his eyes and said, "Says he heard an intruder in the garden. Says he was creeping towards the house, but was ambushed by dustbins."

"And what did the dustbins do?" asked Mr Weasley, scribbling away frantically. "Made one hell of a noise and threw rubbish everywhere, as far as I can make out," Diggory said. "Apparently one of them was still rocking about the place when the please-men arrived-"

Mr Weasley groaned and asked, "And what about the intruder?"

"Arthur, you know Moody," Diggory said, "Someone creeping into his garden at the dead of night? More likely there's a very well-shocked cat wondering around somewhere, covered in potato peelings. But if the Improper Use of Magic got their hands on Mad-Eye, he's had it- just think of his record! We've got to get him off a minor charge, something in your department - what are exploding dustbins worth?"

"Might be a caution," Mr Weasley said, still writing very fast. "Mad-Eye didn't use his wand? He didn't attack anyone?"

"I bet he jumped right out of bed and started jinxing everything he could reach through the window," Diggory said, "But they'll have a hard time proving it, there aren't any casualties."

"Alright, I'm off," Mr Weasley said, stuffing the parchment into his pocket and dashed out of the kitchen again. Diggory looked at Mrs Weasley. "Sorry about this, Molly," he said, "bothering you so early and all. But Arthur is the only person that can get Mad-Eye off the hook, and Mad-Eye's meant to be starting his new job today."

"Never mind, Amos," Mrs Weasley said, "Are you sure you won't have some toast or anything before you leave?"

"Oh, go on then," Diggory said.

Mrs Weasley took a slice of buttered toast from the stack on the table, put it on the fire tongs, and put it right into Diggory's mouth. "Fanks," he said, his mouth full. With a small pop, he disappeared.

I could hear Mr Weasley calling hurried goodbyes to Charlie, Bill and Percy, and the younger members of the flock. Within five minutes he was back in the kitchen, running a comb through his red hair, his robes on the right way. "I'd better hurry," he said, pecking Mrs Weasley on the cheek, "Have a good term kids," he called over his shoulder, "Look after Ginny and Nudge! Molly, are you going to be alright going to Kings Cross?"

"Of course, dear," she said, "You just look after Mad-Eye, we'll be fine."

As Mr Weasley left the Burrow, Bill and Charlie, Nudge, Angel and the Gasman walked into the kitchen, fully dressed and looking cheerful.

"Did someone say Mad-Eye?" Bill asked, "What's he up to now?"

"He says someone tried to break into his house last night," Mrs Weasley said, going back to finished the breakfast.

"Mad-Eye Moody?" George asked, "Isn't he that nutter-"

"Your father thinks very highly of Mad-Eye Moody," Mrs Weasley said sternly.

"Yeah, well Dad collects plugs, doesn't he?" Fred said quietly when Mrs Weasley left the room, and taking some toast, "Bird feathers..."

"Moody was a great wizard in his time, though," Bill said, getting breakfast and sitting at the table. "He's an old friend of Dumbledore's, isn't he?"

"Well, Dumbledore isn't what you would call normal, is he?" Nudge said. "I know he's a genius and all, but...

"Who is Mad-Eye?" Harry asked.

"He's retired. He used to work for the Ministry of Magic," Charlie explained, "I met him once when Dad took me into work with him. He was an Auror- one of the best... a Dark wizard catcher," he added, looking at our confused faces. "Half the cells in Azkaban are full because of him. I hear that he's getting paranoid in his old age. He doesn't trust anyone anymore."

Bill and Charlie decided to go to King's Cross with us, along with the Gasman and Angel, who weren't old enough to go to Hogwarts just yet. Percy, however, said he had to go to the office so he couldn't come. Thank God. "I just can't start taking time off right now," he said, giving us all short hugs before we left, "Mr Crouch is really starting to rely on me."

"You know what Percy?" I said, as he gave me a hug that barely lasted one second, "I reckon he might start getting your name right one of the days." He glared at me, but didn't say anything. The twins gave me a silent thumbs-up behind Percy's back.

Mrs Weasley was brave enough to use the telephone in the village post office to call four ordinary Muggle taxis to take us to London.

"Arthur tried to get Ministry cars, like last year," Mrs Weasley whispered as we watched the taxi drivers heave all our heavy Hogwarts trunks into the cars. "But there weren't any to spare. Dear, they don't look too happy, do they?"

I decided not to tell Mrs Weasley that Muggle taxi drivers weren't used to transported over-excited owls (*cough* Pigwidgeon *cough*). And it also didn't help that George's trunk opened, and all his collection of Filibusters's Fabulous No-Heat, Wet-Start Fireworks all went off, causing the taxi driver to cry out with fright and pain as Crookshanks clawed up his leg.

The journey was very uncomfortable. I was squashed between Harry and Angel (who was holding on Celeste), Hermione and Iggy in the front of the taxi or in the one in front of us, with Freedom's cage on my lap. Crookshanks took a while to recover from the fireworks and by the time we got into London, everyone in our taxi was severely scratched, even the driver.

We were very happy to get to King's Cross, even though Angel was in a very sulky, bad mood. When I saw the Gasman getting out of one of the other taxi's, I saw that he was the same as his sister. Even though it was raining harder than before, I pulled Gazzy and Angel away from the others.

"What's wrong, guys?" I asked, looking into their eyes.

"It's not fair!" Gazzy said, pouting. "Why can't we go to Hogwarts too?"

"Gazzy, you know why. You aren't old enough yet. But when you're eleven, you can go. The same as you, Angel," I said.

"But we miss you guys. I thought we were meant to always be together," Angel said, looking down at her dirty trainers. "We are always going to be together. Just because we're gone for a few months doesn't mean we aren't together. We all love each other, and that's whats important," I said.

They were still depressed, but they both held onto my hand as we walked into the train station. Fred had taken my trunk and school bag in with him. The three of us were soaked when we joined the others.

I was used to getting onto platform nine and three-quarters by now, but Nudge, who was only entering her second-year, seemed a little nervous. "It'll be fine, dear," Mrs Weasley said to Nudge. Nudge seemed to feel better about it, but I didn't like Mrs Weasley taking over my role of looking after the flock.

Getting onto the platform was a simple matter of walking straight through the apparently solid wall between platform nine and ten. The only hard part of this was doing it in an unobtrusive way, so we didn't attract Muggle attention.

It would be so much easier if the flock could just fly to Hogwarts, but that would never happen. It was too far away, and Mrs Weasley and Dumbledore would never allow it.

We went through the wall in groups. I went through with Fred and George, after Harry, Ron and Hermione. Behind me was Fang, Iggy and Ginny. Me and the twins leaned casually against the wall, talking normally and slowly we feel through the wall with our trunks and bags, and as we did, platform nine and three-quarters appeared before our eyes.

The Hogwarts Express was already there, making everything else look dull with it's bright scarlet colour. Everyone that was already on the platform looked like ghosts because of all the steam clouds billowing from the steam engine. Pig became even more noisy. When Angel thought no one was looking, she quickly wiped tears from her eyes. I did my best to block my thoughts from her so she wouldn't know I saw her.

Me, Harry, Ron, Hermione, Fang and Iggy set off to find a compartment and we were soon stowing our trunks and bags into the luggage compartment in a compartment half-way down the train. Then we hopped off the train again to say goodbye to Mrs Weasley, Angel, the Gasman, Bill and Charlie.

"I might be seeing you lot sooner than you think," Charlie said, hugging Ginny.

"Why?" Iggy asked.

"You'll see," Charlie winked, "Just don't tell Percy I mentioned it."

"Yeah, I sort of wish I could go back to Hogwarts this year," Bill said, grinning. "I might even get some time off to watch a bit of it."

"A bit of what?" I asked, curious.

But before anyone could answer me, a loud whistle blew and Mrs Weasley pushed us all towards the train.

"Thanks for having us stay, Mrs Weasley," Hermione said, letting Mrs Weasley hug her and kiss her cheek. "Yeah, thanks for everything," Harry said, getting a hug too. "Oh, it was my pleasure, dears," Mrs Weasley said, hugging and kissing the rest of us. "I'd invite you to stay for Christmas, but I'd expect you'd all want to stay at Hogwarts for the- well, you'll find out when you get there."

Behind Mrs Weasley, Angel gasped, all sadness forgotten for now, and started jumping up and down. She had clearly read Mrs Weasley's mind, and knew what was happening at Hogwarts.

"Angel, what is it?" I asked, smiling at her. She just grinned mischiefly and shook her head.

"It's going to be very exciting," Mrs Weasley said as we wall leaned out of the window to talk to her. "Mind you, I'm glad they changed the rules."

"What rules?" all the guys asked together. "I'm sure Dumbledore will tell you. Now behave, won't you?" she asked, looking at each of us. The pistons hissed loudly and the train began to move.

I stuck my head out of the window and shouted, "Bye Angel and Gazzy! I'll write everyday!"

Beside me, George shouted, "What's happening at Hogwarts! Tell us!"

But Mrs Weasley only smiled at waved as they became smaller and smaller and sped away from us. I felt sad that it would be months before I saw Gazzy and Angel again, but I knew they'd be safe with the Weasley's.

Me, Hermione, Harry, Fang, Ron and Iggy went back to our compartment, while Fred and George went to sit with their friend Lee Jordan, Ginny went to sit with her friends from third-year, and just as Nudge was about to go find her friends, I asked, "Nudge? Do you want to sit with us?"

"Sure," she said, smiling happily, "I'll just find my friends at the feast."

So after Nudge had put her trunk in the luggage compartment, Ron opened his own trunk and pulled out the maroon dress robes and flung them over Pig's cage. When Nudge saw them, her dark skin paled, and I thought she was going to be sick. "What are-?" she started, but feel silent when Ron gave her a dirty look.

"Bagman wanted to tell us something at the World Cup, remember?" Fang said. "Yeah, but my mother won't say what," Ron said grumpily as he sat beside Harry. "Wonder what-?"

"Shh!" Hermione whispered suddenly, pressing her finger to her lips and pointing to the compartment next to theirs. I listened and heard a familiar drawling voice coming from the open door.

"...Father actually wanted to send me to Durmstrang rather than Hogwarts, you know. He knows the Headmaster. Well, you know his opinion of Dumbledore- the mans such a Mudblood lover- and Durmstrang doesn't admit such riffraff. But Mother didn't like the thought of me going to school so far away. Father thinks Durmstrang takes a far more sensible line than Hogwarts to the Dark Arts. Durmstrang students actually learn them, not just the defense rubbish we do..."

I got up and tiptoed to the door and closed it, drowning out Malfoy's voice. "I wish he did go to Durmstrang," I said, sitting down again, "Then we wouldn't have to deal with him, the butthead."

"Durmstrang's another wizarding school?" Harry asked.

"Yes," Hermione said, "And it has a terrible reputation. According to An Appraisal of Magical Education in Europe, it puts a lot of emphasis on the Dark Arts."

"I think I've heard of it," Ron said, "Where is it? What country?"

"Well, no one knows, do they?" Hermione said, raising her eyebrows.

"Why not?" Nudge asked.

"There's traditionally be a lot of rivalry between all wizarding schools. Durmstrang and Beuxbatons like to conceal their whereabouts so no can steal their secrets," Hermione said matter-of-factly.

"Come off it," Ron laughed, "Durmstrang's got to be about the same size as Hogwarts- how are you going to hide a great big castle?"

"But Hogwarts is hidden," Hermione said in surprise, "Everyone knows that...well everyone who's read Hogwarts, A History, anyway."

"Just you, then," Ron said.

"Max read it too," Hermione said defensively. I blushed and looked out the window. "Er...yeah, I read that," I mumbled. Last year, Hermione had forced me to start reading it, but I feel asleep after the third page and haven't picked it up since. Hermione looked at me and said, "You feel asleep reading it, didn't you?"

I smiled, "You know me so well."

"So how do you hide a place like Hogwarts?" Harry asked.

"It's bewitched," Hermione said, "If a Muggle look at it, all they see is an old ruin with a sign over the entrance saying _DANGER! UNSAFE! DO NOT ENTER!" _

"So Durmstrang will look like an old ruin too?" Ron asked.

"Maybe," Hermione said, "Or it might have a Muggle-repelling charms on it, like the World Cup stadium. And to keep foreign wizards from finding it, they'll have made it Unplottable-"

"Come again?"

"You can enchant a building so it's impossible to plot on a map, can't you?" Hermione explained.

"Er...if you say so," Harry said.

"But I think Durmstrang could be further up North," Hermione said, a thoughtful look on her face. "Someplace very cold, because they've got fur capes as part of their uniforms."

"Ah, think of the possibilities," I said, stretching out on my seat, "It would've been so easy to push Malfoy off a glacier and make it look like an accident. Shame his mother likes him..."

The rain became heavier as the train moved further north. The sky was so dark and the windows were so steamy that the lanterns were lit by midday. The lunch trolley came rolling past just after that, and Harry was kind enough to buy a large stack of Cauldron Cakes for everyone to share. Several of our friends from Gryffindor looked in on us as the afternoon passed, including Dean Thomas, Seamus Finnigan and Neville Longbottom.

The three boys sat with us for a while, and we all started talking about the World Cup. Seamus was still wearing his Irish rosette, which was still shouted out the players names in an exhausted sort of way. After half an hour or so, Hermione had grown tired of all the Quidditch talk and pulled out her copy of Standard Book of Spells Grade 4 again.

Neville listened jealously as we all relived the Quidditch World Cup. "Gran didn't want to go," he said miserably, "Wouldn't buy tickets. Sounded amazing though."

"It was," Ron said, "Look at this, Neville..." He rummaged through his trunk and pulled out his miniature figure of Krum.

"Oh wow," Neville said enviously as Ron tipped the figure onto his hand. "We saw him right up close too," Ron said, "We were in the Top Box-"

"For the first and last time in your life, Weasley."

Draco Malfoy was standing at the door to our compartment with Crabbe and Goyle behind him, his enormous thuggish crones. Clearly, they had over heard their conversation through the compartment door, which Dean and Seamus had left ajar.

"Don't remember asking you to join us, Malfoy," Harry said coldly.

"Weasley...what is that?" Malfoy asked, ignoring Harry. He was looking at Ron's horrible dress robes. "Believe me, I was thinking the same thing," Nudge said, but Malfoy ignored her too. A sleeve of his dress robes were hanging down from the luggage compartment, the moldy lace cuff very obvious. Ron made to stuff the robes out of sight, but Malfoy was faster. He grabbed the sleeve and pulled it down.

"Look at this!" Malfoy said, laughing, holding up Ron's robes to show Crabbe and Goyle. "Weasley, you weren't thinking of wearing these, were you? I mean= they were fashionable in around eighteen ninety-"

"Eat dung, Malfoy!" Ron snapped, the same colour as the robes as he snatched them back out of Malfoy's grip. Malfoy howled with laughter.

"So...going to enter Weasley? Going to try and bring a bit of glory to the family name? There's money involved too. You'd be able to to afford some decent robes if you win..."

"What are you talking about?" Ron snapped. "Are you going to enter?" Malfoy repeated. "I suppose Potter, Ride, Griffiths and Martinez will. They never miss a chance to show off."

"Either explain what you're talking about Malfoy, or get out," Hermione said hotly from behind her book.

Malfoy smiled gleefully," Don't tell me you don't know?" he laughed, "You've got a father and brother in the Ministry, and you don't know? My God, my father told me ages ago! Heard about it from Fudge. Yes, my fathers always associated with the top people in the Ministry. Maybe your father is too junior to hear about these kind of things. They probably don't talk about those things in front of him."

Laughing once more, he beckoned to Crabbe and Goyle and the three of them disappeared.

Ron got to his feet and slammed the compartment door shut so hard that the glass shattered.

"Ron!" Hermione said and she pulled out her wand and muttered, _"Reparo!" _ and the glass shards flew back into place.

"Well...making it look like he knows everything we don't..." Ron snarled.

"Well, he does know everything we don't know," Nudge said. Ron stared at her and said, "No he doesn't! He just wants us to think that he knows everything! `Fathers always associated with the top people in the Ministry'... Dad could get a promotion any time he wanted! He just likes where he is now, that's all!"

"Of course he does," Hermione said kindly, "Don't let Malfoy get to you-"

"Him? Get to me? As if!" Ron said hysterically, picking up one of the remaining Cauldron Cakes and squashing it into a pulp.

Ron's bad mood lasted the rest of the journey. He didn't talk much as we changed into our uniform. I was looking at the rain outside the window, and wondering _why doe we have to wear a skirt? Why? _

The Hogwarts Express finally started slowing down, then it stopped completely. I had put tights on instead of the normal knee-high socks the girls have to wear, but I was still shivering when we stepped out onto the platform in Hogsmeade. Nudge, who was too excited to be back at Hogwarts, didn't seem to mind the rain or the cold. There was a rumble of thunder, and my long hair was getting plastered to my scalp.

The rain was now coming down so thick and fast it was hard to walk and it was like buckets of ice-cold water were being emptied onto our heads.

"Hi Hagrid!" Harry shouted when we saw the giant silhouette at the far end of the platform. "All righ' Harry?" Hagrid bellowed back, "See yeh at the fist if we don't drown!"

First-years traditionally reached Hogwarts by sailing across the lake with Hagrid.

"Oh, I'm really glad I don't have to cross the lake in this weather! Although if I did, I'd probably just fly across-" Nudge started, but I hit her in the ribs to make her shut up. There were too many people around for her to be talking about flying. She looked at me and smiled sheepishly.

A hundred horse-drawn carriages were waiting for us outside the station. We all climbed into one together. After a few seconds, the carriage started up the hill towards Hogwarts Castle.

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><p><em><strong>And here is the new chapter! Hope everyone likes it!<strong>_

_**Updating will be a lot slower now because I have summer tests in 3 weeks and I need to study, but then there's the whole summer!**_

_**Free cookies and butterbeer to everyone that reviews, so...**_

_**REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW!**_

_**LoVe YoU!**_

_**-Rach ;)**_


	9. The Triwizard Tournament

_**AUTHORS NOTE! :P**_

_**Hello my faithful readers :) And here is the newest chapter! Hope everyone enjoys!**_

_**Now to answer some reviews...**_

_**SevLoverKat: Haha you'll just have to read to find out :D**_

_**Max artemis potter: I guess we'll find out in a few chapters...**_

_**AnikaandAj: I agree, but I prefer him in the last book :)**_

_**Okay, and thanks to everyone else that reviewed! Enjoy the cookies and butterbeer :P**_

_**-Rach ;)**_

* * *

><p><em><strong>Max's POV<strong>_

The carriage pulled us through the gates, flanked by statues of winged boars, and up the sweeping drive, swaying dangerously in the wind. Leaning against the window, I was able to make out the high turrets of the castle, the many lighted windows blurred in the heavy rain. Lightening flashed across the sky, illuminating the Forbidden Forest that was on the edge of the school grounds.

Our carriage came to a halt in front of the giant oak doors. People who had been in the carriages in front of us were already hurrying up the stone steps into the castle. Me, Harry, Hermione, Fang, Iggy, Ron and Nudge jumped out of our carriage and ran quickly up the steps, only looking up and slowing down where we were safely inside the huge, lantern lit Entrance Hall.

"Blimey," Ron said, shaking his head and sending water into my face. "If that keeps up all night the lake's going to overflow. I'm soaked- ARRGGH!"

A large red water balloon dropped down from the ceiling and landed on Ron's head, exploding. I was standing beside Ron, so I got hit with loads of water as well, but not as much as Ron. Sputtering, I wiped at my eyes to get rid of water, and looked up to see a second water balloon falling towards us. This one landed on Fang's head, soaking him to the skin, and drenching Harry's shoes.

People started shrieking and pushing to get away from the line of fire. I looked up again, in case another water balloon was about to hit us, but instead I saw Peeves the Poltergeist, cackling madly and aiming to throw another water balloon, this one directed at the mass of fifth-year Hufflepuff girls that had just walked into the Entrance Hall.

"PEEVES!" yelled an angry voice, "Peeves, come down here at ONCE!"

Professor McGonagall, Deputy Headmistress and Head of Gryffindor House, had come dashing out of the Great Hall; she skidded on the wet floor and grabbed Hermione around the neck to stop her from falling.

"Oh, I am sorry Miss Granger," she said.

"That's quite alright, Professor!" Hermione said, massaging her throat, alarmed.

"Peeves, get down here NOW!" McGonagall barked, straightening her hat and glaring at Peeves through her glasses. "Not doing nothing!" cackled Peeves, throwing the water balloon at the fifth-year girls, who screamed and ran inside the Great Hall. "Already wet, aren't they? Little squirts! Wheeeeeeeeeeeee!" And he aimed another water balloon at a group of second-year girls that had just walked in.

"I shall call the Headmaster!" shouted McGonagall, "I'm warning you now, Peeves!"

Peeves stuck his tongue out at her, threw his last water balloon into the air (which I had to jump away from) and zoomed off away up the stairs. "Well, move along then!" McGonagall shouted, "Into the Great Hall!"

We slipped and slid across the Entrance Hall, having to hang onto each other so we wouldn't fall, Ron muttering angrily under his breath the entire time and pushing his soaked hair out of his eyes. I pushed my sopping fringe out of my face, hoping the Great Hall would be warm.

The Great Hall looked as wonderful as it always did at the start-of-term feast. Golden plates and goblets gleamed in the light of thousands of candles, floating over the tables in midair. The four long House tables were packed with chattering, happy students. At the top of the Hall, the staff sat at a long table overlooking the House tables. And as I hoped, it was warm and I could feel my hair and clothes start to dry immediately.

We all walked past the Slytherins, the Ravenclaws, and the Hufflepuffs, and sat down together at the Gryffindor table on the far side of the Hall, next to Nearly Headless Nick, the Gryffindor ghost. Pearly white and semitransparent, he was dressed in his usual doublet, but with a particularly large ruff, the only thing keeping up his partially severed neck.

"Good evening," he beamed.

"Who says?" Harry grumbled, taking off his shoes and turning them upside down, emptying them of all the water. "Hope they hurry up with the Sorting. I'm starving."

The Sorting of all the new first-years into the Houses took place at the start of every new school year. Just then, an excited, breathless voice called down the table. "Hiya, Harry!"

It was Colin Creevey, a third-year Gryffindor student who thought Harry was a hero. "Hi Colin," Harry said warily.

"Harry, guess what? Guess what, Harry? My brothers starting! My brother Dennis!"

"Er-that's really good Colin," Harry said.

"He's really excited!" Colin said, practically bouncing in his seat, "I just hope he's in Gryffindor! Keep your fingers crossed, eh, Harry?"

"Er- alright, yeah," Harry said, turning back to us. "Brothers and sisters usually end up in the same House, right?" Harry asked. I never really thought about that before, I just always thought because all of the Weasley's were in Gryffindor, and all the Malfoy's were in Slytherin, that families generally ended up together.

"Not necessarily," Hermione said, "Parvarti's Patil's twin's in Ravenclaw, and they're identical. You'd think they'd be together."

"Parvarti has a twin?" I asked.

"Yes. You've slept in the same room as her for three years, how did you not know that?" Hermione said, raising her eyebrows. "Oh, when do I ever listen to Parvarti and Lavender?" I said, rolling my eyes. Parvarti and Lavender were the other girls that shared a dorm with me and Hermione, and they were exactly the type of girls that I tried to avoid. They were too cheerful and hyper all the time.

I looked up at the staff table. There were more empty seats than usual. Hagrid, of course, was still with the first-years, fighting their way across the lake; Professor McGonagall was most-likely supervising the drying of the entrance-hall floor, but there was still another empty seat, although I couldn't think of who else was missing.

"Where's the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher?" Nudge asked.

We have never yet had a Defense Against the Dark Arts that lasted more than one year. My favorite by far had been Professor Remus Lupin, who resigned last year because everyone found out that he was a werewolf.

I looked up and down the staff table again, but there definitely wasn't any new faces.

"Maybe they couldn't get someone!" Iggy said. Hermione started looking anxious.

I scanned the table more carefully. Tiny Professor Flitwick, the Charms teacher, was sitting on a large pile of cushions beside the Herbology teacher, Professor Sprout. She was talking to Professor Sinistra, who teachers Astronomy. On Sinistra's other side was the sallow-faced, hook-nose, greasy-haired Potions master, Snape- my least favorite person at Hogwarts. My hatred of Snape was matched by his loathing of me, a hatred that had only grown bigger since we helped Sirius escape last year. Snape and Sirius had hated each other since they met when they were at school.

The seat beside Snape was empty too, but that would be filled shorty by Professor McGonagall. Beside that chair, sat the Headmaster, Professor Albus Dumbleore, his long silver beard and hair shining in the candle light, his blue eyes were sparkling as always behind his half-moon spectacles and the tip of his long, thin fingers were together as he stared at the ceiling, as though lost in thought.

I looked up at the ceiling too. It was enchanted to look like the sky outside, but I have never seen it look so stormy. Black and purple storm clouds were swirling across it, and as another clap of thunder echoed outside, a fork of lightening flashed across the ceiling.

"Oh, hurry up!" Ron moaned, "I could eat a Hippogriff."

The words were just out of his mouth when the doors to the Great Hall opened and silence feel. McGonagall was leading a long line of scared looking first-years up to the top of the Hall. If all of us were wet, it was nothing to how the first-years were. They looked to have swum across the lake rather than sailed. All of them were shivering with cold and nerves as they filed along the staff table and came to a halt facing the school- all of them except for a small, mousy haired boy, who was wrapped in Hagrid's moleskin overcoat. The coat was much too big for him, and it looked like he was wearing a tent.

His small face was pocking up from the collar, painfully excited. He caught Colin's eye, gave him a thumbs-up and mouthed, `I feel into the lake!' He looked delighted about it.

Professor McGonagall placed the three-legged stool on the ground in front of the first-years, and on top of it, an extremely old and dirty patched wizards hat. All the first-years stared at it, wondering what was going to happen. There was a long silence, then a long tear near the brim opened wide like a mouth, and the hat broke into song:

_ A thousand years or more ago, When I was newly sewn, There lived four wizards of renown, Whose names are still well known:_

_ Bold Gryffindor, from wild moor, Fair Ravenclaw, from glen, Sweet Hufflepuff, from valley broad, Shrewd Slytherin, from fin._

_ They shared a wish, a hope, a dream, They hatched a daring plan To educate young sorcerers Thus Hogwarts School began._

_ Now each of these four founders Formed their own house, for each Did value different virtues In the ones they had to teach._

_ By Gryffindor, the bravest were Prized far beyond the rest; For Ravenclaw, the cleverest Would always be the best; For Hufflepuff, hard workers were Most worthy of admission; And power-hungry Slytherin Loved those of great ambition._

_ While still alive they did divide Their favorites from the throng, Yet how to pick the worthy ones When they were dead and gone?_

_ 'Twas Gryffindor who found the way, He whipped me off his head The founders put some brains in me So I could choose instead!_

_ Now slip me snug about your ears, I've never yet been wrong, I'll have a look inside your mind And tell where you belong!_

The Great Hall rang with applause when the Sorting Hat finished its song.

"That's not the song it sang when it Sorted us," Harry said as we all clapped along with everyone else.

"It sings a different one every year," I said. Harry stared at me, looking surprised. "What? I know things!" Harry laughed, then looked longingly at his plate.

"It's got to be a pretty boring life, though," Ron said, "I suppose he spends most of the year thinking of the new song."

McGonagall was unrolling a long scroll of parchment. Oh my God I was so hungry! This was going to take forever!

"When I call your name, you are to come up here, place the hat on your head and sit on the stool," McGonagall said, "When the Hat announces what House you are in, you will sit at the appropriate table."

"Ackerley, Stewart!"

A small boy walked forward, trembling from head to foot, picked up the Sorting Hat and sat on the stool.

"We were not that small in first-year, were we?" I asked, looking at all the tiny first-years. "Harry was," Fang said, smiling. "Hey! I wasn't that small!"

"Dude, you're still that small," Iggy said, snickering. "Oh, shut up," Harry said, grinning.

"RAVENCLAW!" the Hat shouted. Stewart Ackerley took off the hat and hurried over to the Ravenclaw table, where everyone was applauding him. I saw Ethan standing up to shake his hand and cheering him on. He caught me looking at him, and he smiled at me. I blushed and smiled back before quickly turning around.

"Baddock, Malcolm!"

"SLYTHERIN!"

The table on the other side of the hall erupted in cheers. I could see Malfoy clapping as Baddock joined their table. I heard Fred and George hissing as Baddock sat down.

"Branstone, Eleanor!"

"HUFFLEPUFF!"

"Cauldwell, Owen!"

"HUFFLEPUFF!"

"Creevey, Dennis!"

Small Dennis Creevey staggered forward, tripping over Hagrid's coat, just as Hagrid himself slid in through a door behind the teachers table. About twice the size as a normal man, and at least three times as broad, Hagrid, with his long tangled and wild black hair and beard, he looked slightly alarming- a misleading impression, for we all knew that Hagrid had a very kind nature. He winked at us as he sat down and watched Dennis putting on the Sorting Hat-

"GRYFFINDOR!" the Sorting Hat shouted. Hagrid clapped along with the Gryffindors as Dennis, beaming widely, took off the Hat and placed it on the stool, and hurried over to sit with his brother.

"Colin! I feel in!" he said shrilly. "It was brilliant! And something in the water grabbed me and pushed me back into the boat!"

"Cool!" Colin said, looking just as excited, "It was probably the giant squid, Dennis!"

"Wow!" Dennis said, as if no one in their wildest dreams could hope for more than being thrown into a storm-tossed lake, and then getting pushed out again by a giant squid.

"Dennis! Dennis, see that boy down there? The one with the black hair and glasses, beside the blond girl? You see him? You know who he is, Dennis?"

Harry looked up to the top of the Hall, blushing, and trying to ignore us all snickering at him.

The Sorting went on; boys and girls with different degrees of fear on their faces moving one by one to the three-legged stool, the line shortening slowly as McGonagall called name after name.

"Oh, hurry up!" I groaned, banging my head against the table and massaging my stomach.

"Max, the Sorting is much more important than food," Nearly-Headless Nick said as `Madley, Laura' became a Hufflepuff.

"Course it is, if you're dead," I mumbled.

"I do hope this years Gryffindors are up to scratch," Nick said, applauding as `McDonald, Natalie,' became a Gryffindor. "We don't want to break our winning streak, now do we?" Gryffindor had won the Inter-House Championship three years in a row.

"Pritcahrd, Graham!"

"SLYTHERIN!"

"Quirke, Orla!"

"RAVENCLAW!"

And finally, with "Whitby, Kevin!" (`HUFFLEPUFF!') the Sorting ended.

Professor McGonagall picked up the hat and stool and walked out of the hall. "About time," Iggy said, picking up his knife and fork, and looking hopefully at his plate. Professor Dumbledore got to his feet. He was smiling at the students, his arms held open wide.

"I have only two words for you!" Dumbledore said, his deep voice echoing around the hall, "Tuck in!"

"Hear, hear!" Me, Harry, Ron, and Iggy said loudly as the empty dishes magically filled before our eyes. Nearly Headless Nick watched sadly as we all loaded our plates with delicious food.

"Aaah, 'at's be'er," I sighed, my mouth stuffed full with potato.

"You're lucky that there's a feast at all tonight, you know," Nick said. "There was terrible trouble in the kitchens earlier."

"Why? What happened?" Harry asked, cutting up his steak.

"Peeves, or course," said Nick, shaking his head, which wobbled dangerously, "The usual argument, you know. He wanted to attend the feast- well, it is definitely out of the question. You know how he is, completely uncivilized, can't see a plate of food without wanting to throw it. We held a ghost's council- the Fat Friar was all for giving him a second chance- but most wisely in my opinion, the Bloody Baron put his foot down on the idea."

The Bloody Baron was the Slytherin ghost, a gaunt and silent specter covered in silver blood stains. He was the only one at Hogwarts that could really control Peeves.

"Yeah, we had a feeling that Peeves was ticked off about something," Ron said darkly, "So what did he do in the kitchens?"

"Oh, the usual," Nick said, shrugging like it wasn't a big deal, "Wrecked havoc and mayhem. Pots and pans everywhere. The place was swimming in soup. Terrified the house-elves out of their wits-"

_Clang!_

Hermione knocked over her golden goblet. Pumpkin juice spread easily across the tablecloth, staining several feet of white linen orange but Hermione didn't pay any attention to it.

"There are house-elves? _Here?"_ she asked, horror-struck, staring at Nick. "Here at Hogwarts?"

"Certainly," Nick said, "The largest number in any dwelling in Britain, I believe. Over a hundred."

"I've never seen any!" Hermione said.

"Well, they hardly ever leave the kitchens by day, do they?" Nick said. "They come out at night to do a bit of cleaning. See to the fires and so on. I mean, they aren't meant to be seen, are they? That's the mark of a good house-elf, isn't it?"

Hermione stared at him.

"But they get paid, right?" she said, "They get holidays? And sick-leave, and pensions, and everything?"

Nick laughed so much that his ruff slipped and his head flopped off, dangling on the inch or so of the ghostly skin. "Sick leaves and pensions?" he said, pushing his head back onto his shoulders. "House-elves don't want sick leaves and pensions!"

"They don't want it because they've never had it!" I said, feeling terrible that I've never even thought about who cleans the castle, who makes my bed, who makes the fire in the Gryffindor common room.

Across from me, Hermione put down her knife and fork, staring at her barely eaten dinner, and pushed it away from here.

"Okay," I said, "I completely agree with you about house-elves, but there is no way I'm going that far." Hermione nodding in understanding. She knew how much food the flock had to eat.

"Oh c'mon, `Er-my-knee," Ron said, accidentally spraying us all with bits of Yorkshire pudding. "Oops- sorry," he said. He swallowed, and said, "You won't get them sick leave from starving yourself!"

"Slave labor," she said, "That's what made this dinner. Slave labor. And I'm not eating any of it." And she didn't eat anything else for the rest of the evening.

The rain was still hammering against the high, dark windows. Another clap of thunder shook the windows and the stormy ceiling flashed, illuminating the Great Hall as the remains of the main course vanished, to be replaced with puddings.

"Treacle tart, Hermione, look!" Ron said as I put two slices of chocolate cake, and one slice of cheese cake on my plate. "Look, chocolate gateau!"

But Hermione just gave him a look so much like McGonagall's glare that Ron gave up.

When the puddings too have disappeared, and the last crumbs faded from the plates, Dumbledore got to his feet again. The buzz of everyone talking in the Hall stopped almost immediately, so that only the howling wind and pounding rain could be heard.

"So," Dumbledore said, smiling around at everyone, "Now that we are fed and watered (`Hmph!' Hermione said) I must once more ask for your attention while I give out some notices.

"Mr Filch, the caretaker, has asked me to tell you that a list of items that are banned in the castle have been put up on his office door. The list has extended this year to add Screaming Yo-yos, Fanged Frisbees, and Ever-Bashing Boomerangs. Like I said, the full list is in his office, if anyone would like to check it out." The corner of Dumbledore's mouth twitched.

"As ever," he continued, "I would like to remind you that the forest is out of bounds to students, as is the village Hogsmeade, to all students under third-year. It is also my painful duty to tell you that the Quidditch World Cup will not be taking place this year."

"What?" I gasped, looking at Harry, and the rest of the Gryffindor Quidditch team, who were all mouthing soundlessly at Dumbledore, too appalled to speak, but before we could say anything, Dumbledore went on, "This is due to an event that will be starting in October, and continuing on throughout the school year, taking up much of the teachers time and energy- but I am sure everyone will enjoy it immensely. I have great pleasure in announcing that this year at Hogwarts-"

But at that moment, there was a deafening rumble of thunder and the doors of the Great Hall burst open.

A man stood in the doorway, leaning upon a long staff, covered in a black cloak. Every head in the Great Hall turned to look at the stranger, who became illuminated by another flash of lightening that went across the ceiling. He lowered his hood, shook out a long mane of grey, frizzled hair, then began walking up towards the teachers table.

A dull clunk echoed around the hall with every other step. He reached the end of the top table, turned right, then limped heavily toward Dumbledore. Another flash of lightening crossed the ceiling and Hermione gasped, covering her mouth with her hands.

The lightening had put the man's face into sharp detail, and it looked unlike any face I have ever seen before, including the Erasers. It looked as though it had been put through a blender. Every inch of his face was scarred. His mouth looked like a diagonal gash, and a large chunk was gone from his nose. But it was his eyes that was the most frightening.

One of them was small, dark and beady. The other was large, round like a coin, and a vivid, electric blue. The blue eye was moving ceaselessly, without blinking and was rolling up and down, side to side, completely independent from the other eye. Then it rolled right back into the mans head, so that the only thing we could see was thewhire of his eye.

The man reached Dumbledore. He stretched out his hand, which was just as scarred as his face, and Dumbledore shook it, muttering words we couldn't hear. He seemed to be making some sort of inquiry of the stranger, who shook his head and replied in an undertone. Dumbledore nodded and gestured the man to the empty seat beside him.

The stranger sat down, shook his mane of grey hair out of his face, pulled a plate of sausages towards him, raised it to what was left of his nose and sniffed it. Then he took out a small knife from his pocket, speared the sausage and began to it it. His normal eye was fixed on the sausage, but the blue eye was still darting restlessly around in it's socket, taking in the Hall and all the students.

"May I introduce our new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher?" Dumbledore said cheerfully into the stunned silence. "Professor Moody?"

It was usual for new staff members to be greeted with mannerly applause, but none of the staff or students clapped except for Dumbledore and Hagrid, who both brought their hands together and clapped into the silence. They stopped fairly quickly. Everyone else was too transfixed by Moody's appearance to do anything other than stare.

"Moody?" Nudge said to Ron, "Mad-Eye Moody?"

"The guy your dad went to help this morning?" Harry went on.

Ron nodded and said in a low voice, "Must be. I've never actually met him before."

"What happened to his face?" I asked.

"Dunno," Ron whispered, looking at Moody in fascination.

Moody didn't seem to care about his less-than-warm welcome. Ignoring the jug of pumpkin juice in front of him, he reached into his travelling cloak again, pulled out a hip-flash and took a long drink from it. As he lifted his arm to drink from the hip-flask, his cloak pulled up a few inches from the ground and I saw, below the table, several inches of carved, wooden leg, ending in a clawed foot.

Dumbledore cleared his throat.

"As I was saying," he said, smiling at his stunned students, most of who were still staring at Moody, "we are to have the honor of hosting a very exciting event over the next few months. This event has not been held for over a century. It is my great pleasure to inform you all that the Triwizard Tournament will be be taking place at Hogwarts this year."

"You're JOKING!" Fred shouted loudly.

Then tension that had filled the Hall when Moody entered suddenly broke. Nearly everyone laughed, and Dumbledore himself chuckled.

"I am not joking, Mr Weasley," Dumbledore said, "though now you mention it, I did hear a rather good one over the summer about a troll, a hag, and a leprechaun who all go into a bar-"

McGonagall cleared her throat.

"Er- but maybe this ins't the time...no..." Dumbledore said as a few people laughed, "where was I? Oh, yes, the Triwizard Tournaments...well, some of you will not know what the Tournament involves, so I hope those who do know will forgive me for giving a short explanation, and you may allow your minds to wander freely.

"The Triwizard Tournament was first created some seven hundred years ago as a friendly competition between the three largest wizarding schools in Europe: Hogwarts, Beuxbatons and Durmstrang. A champion was selected from each school to represent that school, and the three champions competed in three magical tasks. The schools took turns to host the tournament every five-years. It was generally agreed to be a most excellent way of establishing ties between all young witches and wizards of different nationalities- until, that is, the death toll rose so high it was agreed for the tournament to be discontinued."

"Death toll?" Hermione gasped, her eyes wide, alarmed. But her anxiety didn't seem to be shared by most of the other students. Most of the them were whispering excitedly to one another, and I found myself more interested in the tournament rather than a bunch of deaths that happened hundreds of years ago.

"There have been several attempts to reinstate the tournament over the centuries," Dumbledore continued, "none of which were successful. However, our own departments of International Magical Cooperation and Magical Games and Sports have decided the time is ripe for another attempt. We have all worked hard over the summer to ensure that this time, it will be completely safe, and no champion will find him or her self in any mortal danger."

"The heads of Beuxbatons and Durmstrang will be arriving here with their short-listed contenders in October, and the selection of the champions will be on Halloween. An impartial judge will choose which students are most worthy of being a champion and to compete for the Triwizard Cup, the glory of their school, and a thousand Galleons prize money!"

"I'm going for it!" Fred hissed down the table. I looked at Fang, and we both smirked. After facing Erasers our entire lives, this Tournament should be easy. "Let's go for it," I mouthed. He nodded, and we both smiled.

We weren't the only people who wanted to be the Hogwarts champion. At every Hogwarts table, I could see people either gazing raptly at Dumbledore, or else whispering to their neighbors. But then Dumbledore spoke again, and the Hall quieted again.

"Eager though I see many of you are to bring the glory to Hogwarts," he said, "The heads of the participating schools, along with the Ministry of Magic, have agreed to impose an age restriction on contenders this year. Only students who are of age- that is, seventeen or older- will be allowed to enter the tournament. This-" Dumbledore had to raise his voice because several people started making noises of outrage (maybe I was going in on that. But you will never know.) and the Weasley twins were suddenly furious looking.

"-is a measure we feel necessary, given that that tournament tasks will be dangerous and difficult, whatever precautions we take and it is highly unlikely that students below sixth and seventh year will be able to cope with them. I will be personally ensuring that no underage students tries to enter the tournament by hoodwinking the impartial judge into making them Hogwarts champion," his eyes flashed over to Fred and George, who were red in the face from anger, and then to me. Wow, it was like he knew I was trying to think of ways to get passed that judge...

"I therefore beg you not to waste your time submitting yourself if you are under seventeen. The delegations from Beuxbatons and Durmstrang will be arriving in October and remaining with us for most of the remaining school year. I know that you will extend every courtesy to our foreign guests while they are here and you will give your whole-hearted support to the Hogwarts champion when he or she is selected. And now, it's late, and I know how anxious you all are to start your classes, and for that to happen you must be alert and rested for them tomorrow morning. Bedtime! Chop Chop!"

Dumbledore sat down again and turned to talk to Moody. There was a great scraping and banging as all the students got to their feet. We all headed towards the double doors to the Entrance Hall.

"They can't do that!" George said as soon as we were in the Entrance Hall, but he was still looking over his shoulder, looking bad tempered. "We're seventeen in April! Why can't we have a shot?"

"Yeah, your birthdays on April Fool's Day. How fitting," I said, still trying to think of how I could enter the tournament. I was tougher then half of them seventh years! I could do it! Anyone in my flock could win this Triwizard Tournament, even Angel, who was nearly six.

"They're not stopping me from entering!" Fred said stubbornly. "The champions'll get to do all sorts of stuff you're aren't usually allowed to do. And a thousand Galleons prize money!"

"Yeah," Ron said, a faraway look on his face, "A thousand Galleons..."

"Come on," Hermione said, "We'll be the only ones left if you don't move."

We all set off across the Entrance Hall, feeling sleepy after all the food. Fred and George were debating in the ways Dumbledore might stop those who were under seventeen from entering the tournament.

"Who's the impartial judge that selects the Champions?" Harry asked.

"Dunno," Fred said, "but it's them we have to fool. I reckon a few drops of aging potion might do it, George"

"Dumbledore knows you aren't of age, though," Ron pointed out.

"Yeah, but he isn't the one who decides who the champion is, is he?" George said, "Sounds to me like once this judge knows who wants to enter from each school, they'll pick the best, no matter what age. Dumbledore's trying to stop us giving our names."

"People have died though!" Hermione said in a worried voice.

"Yeah," Fred said, "And that was years ago, wasn't it? Anyway, where's the fun without a little risk? Hey, Ron, if we find out how to get past Dumbledore, fancy entering?"

"What d'you reckon?" Ron said, turning to Harry, Fang, and Iggy, ignoring me, Hermione and Nudge. "Be cool to enter, wouldn't it? But I s'pose they might want someone older...Dunno if we've learnt enough."

"Excuse me, sexist pig? What if we want to enter? You know, us girls?" I said, putting my hands on my hips and glaring at Ron.

"Yeah, yeah whatever... We still haven't learnt enough!"

"I definitely haven't," came Neville's gloomy voice from behind Fred and George. "I expect my gran would want me to try, though. She's always going on about how I should be upholding the family honor. I'll just have to- opps-"

Neville's foot got stuck through a step halfway up the staircase There were many of these trick stairs in Hogwarts; it was second nature to most of the older students to jump these steps, but Neville's memory was very bad. Harry and Ron grabbed Neville's arms and pulled him out while a suit of armor at the top of the stairs started cackling, laughing wheezily.

"Shut it, you," I said, banging down it's visor as we passed. We made our way to Gryffindor Tower, which was concealed behind a large portrait of a fat lady in a pink dress.

"Password?" she asked as we approached.

"Balderdash," Fred said, "a prefect downstairs told me."

A portrait swung forward to reveal a hole in the wall, that led into the Gryffindor common room, which was full of red squishy armchairs. Hermione cast a dark look to the merrily dancing flames, and I could of sworn I heard her mutter, "Slave labor," before bidding us all good night and disappearing through the doorway to the girls dormitory.

I rolled my eyes, and said, "She'll get over this soon. I hope."

I then said goodbye to the boys and climbed up the stairs to my dorm.

Hermione was lying on her bed, her hands on her face, groaning.

"What's wrong with you?" I asked, kicking off my Converse and lying on my own bed. "I'm _starving!"_ she snapped.

I laughed, and said, "I might have something for you." I went down on my knees and opened my trunk. "What are you doing?" she asked.

I pulled out a large bag I took with me from the Burrow, which was full of sweets. "Here you are. And house-elves didn't have anything to do with them."

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><p><em><strong>Ta-da! Another chapter done! Hope everyone likes it! :D<strong>_

_**Chapters will be slower from now on because of my summer tests, which I have already said, so I apologize about that but it's only a few weeks, then I can write as long as I like :P**_

_**So, if you review, you get cookies and butterbeer! So... **_

_**REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW!**_

_**LoVe YoU!**_

_**-Rach ;)**_


	10. MadEye Moody

_**AUTHORS NOTE :P**_

_**Hi guys! Here's the newest chapter, and I hope everyone likes it :D**_

_**Now to answers some reviews...**_

_**Arkell26 (and also Annie Bell, because you pointed it out too): Sorry, I never realized I wrote that. Oops. I did mean the Hogwarts Quidditch matches. Sorry again :)**_

_**Bethzilla: I know, I didn't put much Maximum Ride into the last three, but I will try my best to put more in. And there will be a lot more in this story. **_

_**PhoenixAshr4: Yup, I'm doing all 7 books :D**_

_**And now Annie Bell again, to answer the other question: I'm not entirely sure yet, but most likely not everyone in the flock will go. And I hate when that happens too. Here's my own example. **_

_**Me: Sir, could you explain that again? I don't understand it. **_

_**Maths teacher: ... Now, let's continue onto the next question. **_

_**Me:... :/**_

_**My friends: o.O**_

_**Okay, now on with the next chapter!**_

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><p><em><strong>Max's POV<strong>_

The storm was over the next morning, but the ceiling in the Great Hall was still gloomy and cloudy. We all sat down, examining our class schedules at breakfast. A few seats along, Fred, George and Lee were discussing all the different ways to enter the Triwizard Tournament.

"Today isn't so bad," Ron said, "Outside all morning. Herbology with the Hufflepuffs and Care of Magical Creatures."

"Dammit, we're still with the Slytherins," I said, scowling.

"Double Divination this afternoon," Harry groaned, looking further down his schedule. "Double? Ah, we're all going to die!" Iggy moaned, putting his head in his arms. "I won't," Hermione said, grinning. Luckily for her, she dropped Divination last year. Divination was my least favorite subject. Professor Trelawney kept predicting me and Harry's death, and it was really annoying. And there was always a fire on in her attic classroom, making everyone feel sleepy.

"You should have given it up," Hermione said, buttering some toast, "Then you could do something sensible like Arithmancy."

"You're eating again, I notice," Fang said, watching her put jam on the toast as well.

"I've decided there are better ways of making a stand against elf rights," Hermione said haughtily.

"Yeah, that...and you were hungry," Ron said, smirking. Hermione shared a look with me and we grinned. We stayed up late into the night, talking and eating my secret stash of sweets.

There was a sudden rustling noise from above us, and a hundred owls came soaring through the open windows, carrying the morning mail. I looked up, but I didn't see my dark brown owl, Freedom. Owls circled around the tables, looking for their owners. A large tawny owl soared over to Neville and dropped a package onto his lap- Neville always forgot something at home. On the other side of the hall, Malfoy had just gotten his usual supply of sweets from home. I tried to ignore the sinking feeling in my stomach when I didn't see Freedom, or even Hedwig. Could something of happened to them?

I was preoccupied all the way over to the greenhouses, but then I was distracted by what Professor Sprout was showing us. They had to be the ugliest plants I've ever seen. They looked like thick, black, giant slugs, producing from the soil more than plants. Each one was squirming slightly and had a few large, shiny swellings on it, that was full of liquid. I felt sick just looking at them.

"Bubotubers," Sprout told us, "They need squeezing. You will collect the pus-"

"That what?" Seamus asked, looking as disgusted as I felt.

"Pus, Finnigan, pus," Sprout said, "and it's very valuable, so don't waste it. You will collect the pus in these bottles. Wear your dragon-hide gloves. Bubotuber pus does funny things to your skin."

Squeezing the pus was horribly disgusting, but strangely satisfying. As each swell popped, a large amount of yellow green liquid burst forth, which smelled like petrol. We caught it in the bottles Sprout had given us, and when the class was over there were several pints of Bubotuber pus in the greenhouse.

"This will keep Madam Pomfrey happy," Sprout said. "An excellent remedy for the more stubborn forms of acne. Should stop students from resorting to desperate measures to get rid of spots."

"Like poor Eloise Midgen," Hannah Abbott said, "She cursed hers off."

I was suddenly reminded of a girl that was in the School when we were. It had seemed like her entire body was covered in spots, and they seemed to be hurt her every time she moved. I never actually talked to her, but I remember feeling very upset when she never came back to her cage one day.

"Silly girl," Sprout said. "But Madam Pomfrey had her nose fixed in no time."

A bell echoed from the castle across the grounds, signalling that the class was over, and the class separated; the Hufflepuffs going back to the castle for Transfiguration and the Gryffindors walking across the grounds, down the sloping lawn towards Hagrid's hut, which stood on the edge of the Forbidden Forest.

Hagrid was standing outside his hut, one hand holding onto his huge boarhound, Fang (funny, right?) There were several open crates on the ground at his feet, and Fang the dog was whimpering and straining against his collar, eager to investigate the open crates. As we drew closer, a strange rattling noise reached our ears, mixed by what sounded like small explosives.

"Mornin'!" Hagrid said brightly, grinning at the six of us. "Be'er wait fer the Slytherins. Don't want them ter miss out on the Blast-Ended Skrewts!"

"Come again?" Iggy said, looking at the crates. Hagrid pointed down to the crates.

"Eurgh!" Lavender squealed, jumping back. And that pretty much summed up the Black-Ended Skrewts. They looked like deformed, shell-less lobsters, pale and slimy looking, with legs sticking out in every odd place, and it looked like they didn't have heads. There was about a hundred of them in every crate, each one around six-foot, crawling over one another, bumping into the sides of the crates. They smelled like rotting fish. Every few seconds, sparks would fly out from the end of the Skrewts, and with a small phut, they propelled a few inches.

"On'y just hatched," Hagrid said proudly, "so yeh'll be able ter raise 'em! Thought we'd make a project out of it!"

"And why would we want to do that?" came a cold drawling voice from behind us. Malfoy.

The Slytherins had arrived. Crabbe and Goyle were laughing stupidly at what Malfoy had said. Hagrid looked stumped by his question. "I mean, what do they do?" Malfoy asked. "What's the point in them?"

"I think the question is, what's the point in you? What do you do, except make stupid comments?" I said, turning around to face Malfoy. He ruined Hagrid's first lesson last year, I wasn't going to let him do it again.

"No one asked you, freak!" Malfoy sneered.

"And yet, that didn't stop me," I said, grinning.

"You little-"

"That's enough!" Hagrid called. "Malfoy, tha's next lesson. Today, yer just feeding 'em. You'll want ter try them out on a few diff'rent things. I've never had 'em before, you see, not sure what they'll go fer- I got ant eggs an' frog livers an' a bit o' grass snake- just ter try 'em out."

"First pus now this," I muttered darkly, walking over to the little table where all the Skrewts food was. Nothing but deep affection and respect for Hagrid could have made the six of us pick up squelchy handfuls of frog liver and lower them into the crates of Skrewts. I couldn't help thinking how this was completely pointless, because the Blast-Ended Skrewts didn't seem to have mouths.

"Ouch!" shouted Dean Thomas ten minutes later, "It got me!"

Hagrid hurried over, looking worried. "It's end exploded!" Dean said angrily, showing Hagrid the burn on his hand.

"Ah, yeah that can happen when they blast off," Hagrid said.

"Eurgh!" Lavender said again. I really wanted to throw some frog liver at her. That would be funny. "Hagrid, what is that pointy thing on it?"

"Ah, some of 'em have stings," Hagrid explained. Lavender quickly withdrew her hand from the box. "I reckon they're the males...The females've got sorta sucker things on their bellies...I think they might be ter suck blood."

"Well I can certainly see why we want to keep them alive," Malfoy said sarcastically. "Who doesn't want a pet that can bite, sting and burn all at once?"

"Just because they aren't pretty doesn't mean they aren't useful," Hermione said furiously. "Dragon's blood is extremely useful, but you wouldn't want a dragon for a pet, would you?"

We turned to grin at Hagrid, who gave us a small smirk behind his massive beard. We all knew too well that Hagrid wanted nothing more than to have a pet dragon- he had owned one for a small time during our first-year, a vicious Norwegian Ridgeback by the name of Norbert. Hagrid loved monstrous creatures- the deadlier, the better.

"Well, at least they're small," I said as we made our way up to the castle for lunch.

"They are now," Hermione said, "But once Hagrid finds out what they eat, they'll probably be six-feet long."

"Well, that wouldn't matter if they have the cure to seasickness or something, will it?" Ron said, grinning.

"You know perfectly well I only said that to shut Malfoy up," Hermione said, "As a matter of face, I think he's right. The best thing we can do would be to stamp on them all before they start attacking us all."

We sat down at the Gryffindor table and started helping ourselves to lamp chops and potatoes. Hermione began eating so fast that me, Harry, Ron, Iggy and Fang stared at her with our eyes wide.

"Is this a new stand on elf rights?" Fang asked, "Make yourself puke?"

"No," Hermione said, her cheeks bulging with sprouts, "I just want to go to the library."

"What?" Ron asked, "Hermione- it's our first day! We haven't even gotten homework yet!"

Hermione shrugged, continued shoveling food into her mouth, then she jumped to her feet, grabbed her bag and called, "See you at dinner!" over her shoulder as she walked out of the Hall.

"She is so strange sometimes," Iggy said, shaking his head.

When the bell rang to signal the start of the afternoon classes, me and the boys left the Great Hall and made our way up to the North Tower, where at the top of a spiraling staircase, a silver stepladder led to the circular trapdoor in the ceiling, and to the room where Professor Trelawney lived.

The familiar sweet perfume spreading from the fire met our nostrils as we emerged at the top of the stepladder. Like always, the curtains and windows were closed; the circular room was bathed in a dim, reddish light cast by the many lamps, that were draped with scarves and shawls. We walked through the mass of poufs that cluttered the room and sat down at a small circular table.

"Good day," said a misty voice as Professor Trelawney appeared out of nowhere behind Harry, making him jump. I grinned at him and he just looked away, acting as if nothing happened.

A thin woman with enormous glasses that magnified her eyes to twice their size, Trelawney was staring at Harry with the same tragic expression she always wore whenever she saw him. That was when I noticed that she never once looked at me, not even a glance. Fang noticed this as well, and he frowned at me. I just shrugged. Maybe she thought I wasn't going to die today.

"You are preoccupied, my dear," Trelawney said to Harry. "My inner eye sees past your brave face and into your troubled mind. And I regret to say your troubles are not baseless. I see difficult times ahead for you...most difficult...I fear what you dread to happen will come to pass...and perhaps sooner than you think."

Her voice dropped to a whisper, and I rolled my eyes and looked over at Harry. He stared stonily back. Trelawney swept away from us and sat down in a large arm chair by the fire facing the class. Lavender Brown and Pavarti Patil, who admired Trelawney more than anyone else in the castle, sat on little poufs beside her.

"My dears, it is time we consider the stars," Trelawney said in her misty voice. I put my head in my hands on the table, already feeling sleepy. "The movements of the planets and the mysterious portents they reveal only to those who understand the steps of the celestial dance..."

My thoughts started drifting to other things. Trelawney's ramblings about fortune-telling had never exactly been intriguing. Instead, I thought of what Trelawney had said to Harry, "I fear what you dread to happen will come to pass..."

But of course, I believed that Trelawney that an old fraud. The only thing that I knew of that Harry was dreading was that Sirius had somehow gotten caught, but that was impossible because if Sirius Black got caught by the Ministry, it would be all over the newspapers. Bu what was Trelawney thinking about? I had long since come ot the conclusion that Trelawney's brand of fortune telling was no more than lucky guessing in a spooky manner.

Except for that time at the end of last year, before we found out that Sirius was my father, when she made the prediction about Voldemort rising again...and even Dumbledore himself had said it was most likely a real prediction.

I raised my head slightly at looked at my watch. I stopped paying attention twenty minutes ago. But when I looked at Harry, I had to cover my face with my hands so I wouldn't make any noise. He was actually asleep, and he was snoring! But what made it better was that Trelawney just asked Harry a question.

"Harry!" I said, kicking his shin under the table. He jerked upright and said, "What?" The whole class was staring at him, and by the look on his face he only realized that he had fallen asleep now.

"I was saying, my dear, that you were clearly born under the baleful influence of Saturn," Trelawney said, a note of resentment in his voice.

"Born under what?" Harry said.

"Saturn, dear, Saturn!" Trelawney said, sounding very irritated, "I was saying that Saturn was in the position in the heavens at the moment of your birth... Your dark hair...your mean stature...tragic looses so early in your life...I think I'm right in saying that you were born in midwinter?"

"No," Harry said, "I was born in July."

Me, Fang, Iggy and Ron started laughing, but when Trelawney glared at us, we hastily turned it into violent coughing fits.

Half an hour later, we were all given a complicated circular chart, and was attempting to fill in the positions of the plants at the moments of our birth. It was boring work, requiring consultation of timetables and calculation of angles. I just wanted to throw the whole thing into the fire.

"I've got two Neptune's here," Harry said after a few minutes, frowning at his parchment, "that can't be right, can it?"

"Aaaah," I said, imitating Trelawney's misty whisper, "when two Neptune's are together, it is a sure sign that a midget with glasses will be born, Harry."

Seamus and Dean, who were working in front of us, started sniggering loudly, but not loud enough to mask the squeals from Lavender, "Oh, Professor, look! I think I have an unaspected planet! Oooh, which one is that, Professor?"

"It is Uranus, my dear," Trelawney said, looking down at the chart.

"Can I have a look at Uranus too?" said Ron.

Unfortunately, Trelawney heard him. Maybe that was why she gave us so much homework at the end of class.

"A detailed analysis of the way the planetary movements in the coming months will affect you, and reference to your personal chart," she snapped, sounding much more like Professor McGonagall. "I want it to be ready to hand in next Monday, no excuses!"

"Miserable old git," Iggy said as we walked down the stairs towards the Great Hall for dinner, "That'll take all weekend, that will!"

"Lot's of homework?" Hermione asked as she caught up with us, with Nudge behind her. They must of bumped into each other on the way down. "Professor Vector didn't give us any at all!"

"Yeah, and Professor Flitwick gave us some, but then he let us start it in class, and I finished it there so I don't have any Charms homework. But McGonagall gave us a short essay, but it'll be really easy," Nudge rambled.

"Well how great for you," Ron said sulkily.

"The Divination homework should be easy. We can just make it up," Fang said as we reached the entrance hall and started queuing up for dinner. We just reached the end of the line when a loud voice yelled out behind us.

"Weasley! Hey Weasley!"

We turned around. Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle were standing there, looking thoroughly pleased about something.

"What?" Ron snapped.

"Your dads in the paper, Weasley!" Malfoy said, brandishing the Daily Prophet in front of Ron's face and speaking so loudly that everyone could hear what he was saying.

"Listen to this!"

"Further mistakes at the Ministry of Magic. It seems as though the Ministry of Magic's troubles are not yet at an end, writes Rita Skeeter, Special Correspondent. Recently under fire for its poor crowd control at the Quidditch World Cup, and still unable to account for the disappearance of one of its witches, the Ministry was plunged into fresh embarrassment yesterday by the antics of Arnold Weasley, of the Misuse of Muggle Artifacts Office."

Malfoy stopped reading and looked up.

"Imagine, they didn't even get his name right, Weasley. It's almost as though he's completely useless, isn't it?" Everyone in the Entrance Hall was listening now. Malfoy straightened the paper and read on:

"Arnold Weasley, who was charged with possession of a flying car two years ago, was yesterday involved in a tussle with several Muggle law-keepers ("policemen") over a number of highly aggressive dustbins. Mr. Weasley appears to have rushed to the aid of "Mad-Eye" Moody, the aged ex-Auror who retired from the Ministry when no longer able to tell the difference between a handshake and attempted murder. Unsurprisingly, Mr. Weasley found, upon arrival at Mr. Moody's heavily guarded house, that Mr. Moody had once again raised a false alarm. Mr. Weasley was forced to modify several memories before he could escape from the policemen, but refused to answer Daily Prophet questions about why he had involved the Ministry in such an undignified and potentially embarrassing scene."

"And look, there's a picture!" Malfoy said. I felt Nudge tensing beside me, but put a hand on her shoulder so she wouldn't do anything. Malfoy was all mine.

"A picture of your parents outside their house- if you call that thing a house," Malfoy went on, holding the paper out for everyone to see. "Your mother could do with losing some weight, couldn't she?"

Me, Ron, Nudge, Fang and Iggy were shaking with fury. Everyone was staring at us, but I didn't see anything else other than Malfoy's face, grinning with glee and malice.

"Get stuffed, Malfoy," Harry said, "C'mon, let's go..."

"Oh, yeah you were staying with them over the summer, weren't you, Potter?" sneered Malfoy. "Tell me, if his mother really as fat as she looks in the picture?"

I made to jump at Malfoy, ready to rearrange his face, but Harry grabbed me around the waist and pulled me behind him, and Hermione grabbed onto Ron. The others seemed quite under control for the minute. "Yeah, you know your mother, Malfoy?" Harry said, keeping a hand on me so I didn't kill Malfoy. Although I didn't see anything wrong with that. "That expression she's got- does she always look like that, or is it just when you're with her?"

Malfoy's face when slightly pink.

"Don't you dare insult my mother, Potter!"

"So then you better keep your fat mouth shut," Harry said, turning away.

_BANG!_

Several people screamed- I felt something white-hot graze the side of my face, flipping my hair into my eyes. At the same time me, Harry, Ron, Fang and Iggy all went for our wands, but before I even touched mine I heard a second loud _BANG _ and a roar that echoed around the entrance hall.

"OH NO YOU DON'T LADDIE!"

I spun around. Professor Moody was limping down the staircase. He had his wand out and was pointing it at a pure white ferret, which was shivering on the stone floor, exactly where Malfoy had been standing.

There was a terrified silence in the entrance hall. Nobody but Moody was moving a muscle. Moody turned to look at all of us- well, his normal eye turned to look at us- the other one was pointing out of the back of his head.

"Did he get you?" he asked, looking between me and Harry. His voice was low and gravelly.

"No. He missed," I said.

"LEAVE IT!" Moody suddenly shouted. I jumped and looked at Harry, who was looking bewildered.

"Leave-what?" I asked.

"Not you- him," Moody growled, jerking his thumb over his shoulder at Crabbe, who had just frozen in the act of picking up the white ferret. It seemed like Moody could see out of the back of his head with his magical eye.

Moody started limping towards Crabbe, Goyle and the ferret, which gave a terrified squeak and tried to scuttle away towards the dungeons.

"I don't think so!" Moody roared, pointing his wand at the ferret again- it flew ten feet into the air, feel with a loud smack to the floor, then bounced up to the ceiling again.

"I don't like people who attack others when their backs are turned!" Moody shouted as the ferret bounced higher and higher, squealing in pain. It was horrible, yet hilarious, to watch.

"Stinking, cowardly, scummy thing to do..."

The ferret flew through the air, legs and tail flailing helplessly.

"Never-do-that-again!" Moody said, speaking each word as the ferret hit the stone floor.

"Professor Moody!" said a shocked voice.

Professor McGonagall was coming down the staircase, her arms full with books, looking deeply shocked at what she was seeing.

"Hello Professor McGonagall," Moody said calmly, bouncing the ferret even higher.

"What-what are you doing?" she asked, her eyes following the ferret. "Teaching," Moody said simply.

"Is that- is that a student?" McGonagall shrieked, the books spilling out of her arms.

"Sure is," Moody said.

"No!" McGonagall ran forward, pulling out her wand. A moment later, with a loud snapping noise, Draco Malfoy haad reappeared, lying in a heap on the floor, breathing heavily, with his sleek hair all over his bright pink face. He slowly got to his feet, wincing. I grinned happily.

"Moody, we never use Transfiguration as a punishment!" McGonagall said shrilly. "Surely Dumbledore told you that!"

"Could of said something like that, yeah," Moody said, scratching his chin, "but I thought a good shock-"

"We give detentions! Or speak to the students Head of House!"

"Well I'll do that then," Moody said, looking at Malfoy with great dislike.

Malfoy, who's pale grey eyes were watering with pain and humiliation, looked at Moody and muttered, "My father will hear about it," but many people probably didn't hear the whole thing. Clearly Moody did because he said, "Your father?" and he took a few steps towards Malfoy, the dull thunk of his wooden leg echoing around the hall. "Well I know your father of old, boy...You tell him Moody's keeping a close eye on his son...you tell him that from me. Now, your Head of House would be Snape, am I correct?"

"Yes," Malfoy said.

"Another old friend," growled Malfoy, "I've been looking forward to a good old chat with Snape. Come on, you..." And he seized Malfoy's arm and dragged him towards the dungeons. Professor McGonagall stared anxiously after them for a few minutes before waving her wand at her fallen books, and they flew up into her arms.

"Don't talk to me," Ron said quietly as we sat at the Gryffindor table, surrounded by people talking excitedly about what just happened.

"Why not?" Hermione asked, surprised.

"Because I want to fix that in my mind forever," Ron said, closing his eyes and a happy expression on his face. "Draco Malfoy, the amazing bouncing ferret."

We all laughed and Hermione started lopping beef casserole onto all of our plates.

"He really could of hurt him though," Hermione said. "It was a good thing McGonagall stopped him when he did."

"Hermione!" Ron said furiously, his eyes snapping open, "You're ruining the best moment of my life!"

Hermione made an impatient noise and started eating a fifty miles an hour again. "Don't tell me you're going to the library again this evening," I said.

"Got to," Hermione said thickly around a mouth full of food, "I've got loads to do."

"But you said Professor Vector didn't give you any homework," Nudge said.

"It's not schoolwork," was all Hermione said. Within five minutes, she had cleared her plate and left. No sooner had Hermione left that her seat was taken again by Fred.

"Moody! How cool is he?" he said.

"Beyond cool," George said, sitting down opposite Fred.

"Supercool," said the twins friends, Lee, sliding into the seat beside George. "We had him this afternoon."

"What was it like?" Iggy asked eagerly.

Fred, George and Lee shared looks full of meaning.

"Never had a lesson like it," Fred said.

"He knows, dude," Lee said.

"Knows what?" Fang asked, leaning forward.

"Knows what it's like to be out there doing it," George said.

"Doing what?" Harry asked.

"Fighting the Dark Arts," Fred said.

"He's seen it all," George said.

"Unbelievable," Lee said.

I looked through my bag for my timetable and looked at it.

"We haven't got him till Thursday!" I said in a disappointed voice.

* * *

><p><em><strong>And here is the next chapter. I hope everyone liked reading it :)<strong>_

_**My tests are from next Monday to Thursday, then I have my holidays, so updating will be slow up till then. I hope everyone understands. **_

_**We're nearly at 100 reviews already! I love you all so much! Can we get 100 before the next chapter? Please? It's only ten more reviews till 100, so please I'd love if everyone that read this chapter will review. I know everyone won't, but I really hope most people will. **_

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_**-Rach ;)**_


	11. The Three Unforgivable Curses

_**AUTHORS NOTE :P**_

_**Dia duit! That's hello in Irish!**_

_**I am really sorry I haven't updated, in like, forever, but I was studying every night last week for my tests, and playing gaelic in my spare time, so I didn't have much time to go in fanfiction... I'm sorry. **_

_**I am glad to inform you all that as of today, I am on my summer holidays! **_

_**And you all know what that means...**_

_**MORE FANFICTION! :D **_

_**Oh, yes, and I would thank everyone that reviewed, we now have more than 100 reviews! I love you guys so much! thank you!**_

_**Anyhow, I shall answer some reviews from the last chapter... **_

**_jdr ride: of course there's going to be a twist :) i need to keep it interesting! :P_**

**_Arkell26: damn i hate when I make mistakes! but don't feel like a jerk, I always appreciate it when people point out my mistakes, and it was like, 12 at night when I wrote that chapter. And thanks for the good luck :)_**

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**_and thank you to everyone else that reviewed, you're all awesome!_**

**_and here is the next chapter, enjoy!_**

**_-Rach ;)_**

* * *

><p><em><strong>Max's POV<strong>_

Two days passed without much happening, which is saying something at Hogwarts. Well, there was the incident where Neville melted his sixth cauldron in Potions. Professor Snape, who seemed have become even more vicious over the summer. I never thought it was possible. Snape gave Neville detention, and when Neville returned to the Gryffindor common room close to midnight, he was in a nervous state. He barely managed to tell us that he had to disembowel a barell full of horned toads.

"You know why Snape's in such a bad mood?" Ron asked, watching as Hermione and Fang were teaching Neville how to do a Scouring Charm, to get rid of all the frog guts from under his fingernails.

"Yeah," Harry said, "Moody."

It was obvious that Snape wanted the Dark Arts job, but he never got it. He failed to get it for the fourth year in a row. Snape had hated all the old Dark Arts teachers, and had showed it- but he seemed a bit hesitant to show any obvious dislike towards Moody. I even noticed that whenever they passed in the corridors, or at mealtimes, that Snape avoided Moody's eyes.

"I think Snape is a bit afraid of him," I said.

"Imagine in Moody turned Snape into a horned toad," Ron said, his eyes sparkling happily, "then bounced him around his dungeons..."

The fourth-year Gryffindor's were looking forward to their class with Moody so much that we all arrived early on Thursday and queued outside the classroom before the bell even rung. The only person that wasn't there was Hermione. She turned up a few minutes before the bell rang, out of breath and she said, "Sorry. I've been in-"

"Library," we all said together, rolling our eyes. "C'mon, quick, we need to get decent seats," Harry said.

We hurried to the large desks at the top, right in front of the teachers desk, where there were enough seats for the six of us and took out our books and quills and waited for Moody to show up.

Soon after, we heard the distinctive clunking footsteps approaching the classroom, then Moody entered, looking as frightening and strange as ever. We could see his wooden leg producing from under his cloak.

"You can put those away," he said, indicating to Iggy's Dark Arts book. "the books. You're not going to need them." We put our books back into our bags, and I couldn't help but feel a flutter of excitement in my stomach as my looked up at the scarred face of our new teacher.

Moody took out a register and began to call out everyone's names while his magical eyes swiveled around the class onto each person as they answered.

"Right then," he said, when the last person said they were present, "I've had a letter from Professor Lupin telling me everything you did last year. Seems you have a thorough understanding on how to fight against Dark creatures- you've tackled Red Caps, Kappas, Boggarts, hinkypunks, grindylows and werewolves- am I correct?"

There was a small muttering of agreement.

"But you are very, very behind on dealing with curses," Moody said, "So I'm here to teach you all the different things wizards and witches can do to each other. I've got one year to teach you all how to deal with Dark-"

"What, you're not staying?" Ron blurted.

Moody's magical eye swung around to stare at Ron. Ron blushed furiously, his face matching his hair and he looked very apprehensive. But Moody smiled- the first time I've ever seen him do anything of the sort, and it made his face look even more twisted and contorted than it ever was. But it was comforting to know to know that he did something as friendly as a smile. Ron looked relived.

"You'll be Arthur Weasley's son?" Moody said, still grinning, "Your father got me out of a sticky situation the last day. Yeah, I'm only staying for the one year...Special favor of Dumbledore. One year, and back to my quiet retirement." He gave a harsh laugh and clapped his hands together.

"So-straight into it. Curses. They come in many strength and forms. Now, according to the Ministry of Magic, I'm meant to teach you countercurses and that's it. I'm not supposed to show you what Dark Magic looks like until you're in sixth year. You're not meant to be old enough to deal with it till then. But Dumbledore has a higher opinion of your nerves than the Ministry, and I say the sooner the better. How are you supposed to be able to protect yourself against something you've never seen? A wizard that's about to put an illegal curse on you won't tell you what he's doing. He won't be nice and polite to you're face. You need to be prepared and watchful.

"You need to put that away when I'm talking, Miss Brown," he said, his magical eye flickering over to where Lavender and Parvarti were sitting together. Lavender jumped and blushed. She had just been showing Parvarti her finished horoscope under the desk. Apparently, Moody's eye can see through wood.

"So...do any of you know which curses are most heavily punished in wizards law?"

Several hands rose into the air, including Ron and Hermione's. I could tell Fang knew them, but he never put his hand up in class. Fang only spoke when spoken to, or else when he really wanted to say something.

Moody pointed at Ron, even though his magical eye was still on Lavender.

"Er..." Ron said, "my dad did tell me about on. The Imperious Curse, or something?"

"Ah, yes," Moody said, nodding his head and shaking out his grizzly grey hair. "Your father would know about that one. Gave the Ministry a bit of trouble a few years back, the Imperious Curse."

Moody got to his feet, opened his desk drawer and took out a glass jar. Three large, black spiders were scuttling around inside it. I felt Ron recoiling slightly at the sight of the spiders- Ron was terrified of spiders.

Moody reached into the jar and grabbed one of the spiders and held it in the palm of his hand so everyone could see. Then he pointed his wand at it, and muttered, "_Imperio!"_

The spider leaped from Moody's hand on a fine silk thread and began swinging back and forth as if on a trapeze. It stretched its legs rigidly, did a back-flip, breaking the thread and landing on the table, where it began to do cartwheels in circles. Moody jerked his wand and the spider started tap-dancing.

Everyone was laughing- except for Moody.

"Think it's funny, do you?" he growled, "You'd like this to happen to you?"

The laughter quickly died away.

"Total control," Moody said, "I could make it jump out the window, drown itself, throw itself onto someones throat..."

Ron shuddered.

"Years back there were witches and wizards being controlled by the Imperious Curse," said Moody, and I knew he was talking about back in the days when Voldemort had been all powerful. "Some job for the Ministry, trying to find out who was really under the Curse, or who was acting on their own free will.

"The Imperious Curse can be fought, and I will be teaching you how, but it takes real strength of character and not everybody's got it. Better avoid being hit by it if you can. CONSTANT VIGILANCE!" he barked, and everyone jumped.

Moody picked up the somersaulting spider and put it back into the jar.

"Anyone else? Anyone else got another illegal curse?"

Hermione's hand flew up into the air again, and to everyones surprise, so did Neville's. The only class where Neville volunteered information was Herbology. Neville seemed surprised at his own daring.

"Yes?" Moody said, his magical eye rolling over to look at Neville, who looked terrified and- sad?

"There's one- the Cruciatus Curse," Neville said, looking down at his hands. Moody was looking very intently at Neville, with both of his eyes. "You're names Longbottom?" Neville nodded nervously, but Moody had no further questions. Turning back to the class, he reached into the jar for the next spider and placed it on his desk, where it didn't move, too scared to do anything.

"The Cruciatas Curse," Moody said, "Needs to be bigger for everyone to get the idea." He pointed his wand at the spider and said, "_Engorgio!" _

The spider swelled. It was roughly the size of a tarantula. Abandoning his pride, Ron pushed his chair way back away from his desk.

Now this is where the freaky part comes in, so be prepared.

Moody raised his wand again, pointed it to the spider and and said _"Crucio!" _

Immediately, the spiders legs buckled and bent in upon its body; it rolled over and began twitching horribly, rolling around and rocking from side to side. There was no sound coming from the spider, but I knew that if it had a voice, it would be screaming a bloodcurdling scream. Moody didn't remove his hand, and the spider continued to twitch and jerk over the desk, and while I watched it, an image of me, maybe seven or eight years old, doing the same thing on a cold, metal table.

"Stop it!" Hermione said shrilly.

I shook my head, trying to get rid of the horrible images, and looked at Hermione. She wasn't staring at the spider, but at Neville. His fists were clenched, his knuckles white, his eyes wide and horrified.

Moody raised his wand. The spider had relaxed, but it's legs were twitching. "_Reducio." _The spider shrank back to its normal size and Moody put it back into the jar.

"Pain," Moody said softly, "You don't needs knives to torture someone if you're able to perform the Cruciatus Curse...That one was very popular back in the old days too. Right, does anyone know any others?"

I looked around, and saw that other's, like me, were wondering what could happen to the last spider. Hermione's hand shook slightly as she raised it into the air for the third time, and I noticed she tried so hard not to look at Harry, but her eyes were flickering to him every few seconds.

"Yes?" said Moody, looking at Hermione.

"Avada Kedavra," Hermione whispered. Several people looked uneasy, including Ron.

"Ah," Moody said, another small grin on his lopsided mouth, "Yes, the last, and the worst... Avada Kedavra...The Killing Curse."

He put his hand into the jar, and almost as if he knew what was happening, the last spider scuttled around the bottom of the jar, desperately trying to get away from Moody's fingers, but he caught it and placed it on the desk. It started to scuttle frantically across the wooden surface.

Moody raised his wand, and I felt shivers run down my spine.

_"Avada Kedavra!" _Moody roared.

There was a flash of blinding green light and a rushing sound, as thought a huge, invisible something was flying through the air- instantaneously the spider rolled over onto it's back, unmarked, but clearly dead. Several of the students gasped, or stifled cries and Ron had thrown himself backwards and almost fell off his chair as the dead spider skidded towards him.

Moody swept the dead spider off the desk onto the floor without a second glance at it.

"Not nice," he said calmly, as if nothing had happened, "There's no countercurse. There's no blocking it. Only one person has been known to survive it- and he's sitting right in front of me."

Harry face went red as Moody stared at him, and as every head in the class turned to him. Harry stared at the blackboard, his eyes distant. That was how his parents died, just like that spider. And possibly how my mother died too. Had the three of them died unmarked as well? Had they simply seen a flash of green, heard the rush of death before the lives were wiped from their bodies?

I had pictured my mothers death hundreds of times since Sirius told me about her last summer, and how she died. Only shortly after I was kidnapped by the whitecoats, my mother was murdered by Voldemort himself. Then, a few months later, that was when Voldemort went to the Potter's house, and tried to kill Harry. On that night, Sirius really did loose everything. He had already lost his daughter and fiance, then he looses his best friends and his godson- for Harry had to go to his aunt and uncles. A few months ago was the first time since we were babies that we saw Sirius.

Even though I never knew what exactly happened when my mother died, Harry was able to hear his parents dying whenever he got close to a Dementor. Harry told me everything he heard, and everything that he found out from listening to his parents get killed.

James Potter had tried to hold Voldemort off so that his wife and only son could have a chance of getting away. Voldemort killed James, then advanced on Lily Potter, told her to move aside so that he could kill Harry...how she begged him to kill her instead, refused to get out of the way, refused to stop shielding her son. So then Voldemort killed her too, then tried to kill Harry, but couldn't.

To be honest, I thought the death of James and Lily was worse than the death of my own mother. Especially because Harry knew everything that happened. I had great respect for Lily Potter. She gave her life for her only son, even when she had a choice of living and getting away, she never left her son to be killed. I wish I could of met her, to thank her for saving her son and giving me the best friend I had now.

Moody was speaking again, and it seemed from a great distance. With a massive effort, I pulled myself back to the present and listened to what Moody was saying.

"Avada Kedavra is a type of curse that requires a lot of magic behind it- you could all get your wands out now, point them at me and say the spell, but I wouldn't even get as much as a nosebleed. But that doesn't matter- I'm not here to teach you how to use it.

"Now, if there's no countercurse, why am I showing you? Because you've got to know! You've got to appreciate what the worst is. You don't want to find yourself in a situation facing it. CONSTANT VIGILANCE!" he roared and the whole class jumped again.

"Now, those three curses- Avada Kedavra, Imperious and Cruciatus- are known as the Three Unforgivable Curses. The use of any one of them is enough to land anyone a life sentence in Azkaban. That's what you're up against. That's what I've got to teach you to fight. You all need preparing. You all need training. And you all need arming. But most of all you need to practice constant, never-ceasing vigilance. Get out your quills... copy this down..."

We spent the rest of the lesson taking notes on the Unforgivable Curses. No one spoke until the bell rang- but when Moody dismissed us and we left the classroom, a babble of talk burst forth. Most of the people in the class were discussing the curses in awed voices. "Did you see it twitch?"- "and he killed it- just like that!"

Everyone was talking about the lesson as if it was a spectacular show, but I didn't find it that entertaining, and neither did Harry or Hermione.

"Hurry up," she said tensely.

"Not the ruddy library again?" Iggy said.

"No- Neville," Hermione said, pointing up the hallway. Neville was standing alone, halfway down the corridor, staring at the stone wall opposite of him with the same horrified, wide-eyed face that he had in Woody's classroom when he did the Cruciatus curse.

"Neville?" I said gently, touching his elbow softly. See, I can be nice to people!

Neville looked around at us. "Oh, hello," he said, his voice slightly higher than normal. "Interesting lesson, wasn't it? I wonder what's for lesson- I'm starving, aren't you?"

"Neville, are you alright?" I asked, staring at him in concern. He really did look pale and troubled.

"Oh, yes I'm fine," Neville said in the same high voice, "Very interesting dinner- I mean lesson- what's for eating?"

Fang gave me a startled look. "Neville- what-?"

But an odd clunking noise from behind us made us all turn around. Professor Moody was limping towards us. The seven of us feel silent, watching him but when he spoke, it was in a much lower and gentler growl than they had yet heard.

"It's alright, sonny," Moody said to Neville, "Why don't you come up to my office and have a cup of tea?"

Neville looked even more frightened at the thought of having tea with Moody. He didn't move or speak. Moody turned his magical eyes upon Harry and asked, "You alright, Potter?"

"Yes," Harry said defiantly.

Moody's blue eye quivered slightly in the socket as it surveyed Harry. Then he said, looking at me this time too, "You've got to know. You might think it's harsh, but you have to know. No point pretending... well, come on Longbottom, I've got some books that might interest you."

Neville looked pleadingly at the six of us, but there wasn't anything we could do, so we all remained silent, so Neville had no choice but to be steered away, one of Moody's gnarled hands on his shoulder.

"What was that about?" Iggy asked, watching Moody and Neville disappear down the corridor.

"No idea," Hermione said, looking pensive.

"Some lesson, though!" Ron said as we started walking towards the Great Hall. "Fred and George were right, weren't they? He really knows his stuff, doesn't he? When he did Avada Kedavra, and the spider just snuffed it right there-" Ron stopped when he saw the look on Harry's face and didn't speak again until we entered the Great Hall, where he said that we should make a start on Trelawney's predictions tonight since it could take a few hours.

Hermione didn't join in on our conversations during dinner, but ate furiously fast and then once again left for the library. The rest of us walked back to Gryffindor Tower, talking about nothing really important until Harry said, "Wouldn't Moody and Dumbledore get into trouble with the Ministry if they found out that they showed us the Unforgivable Curses?"

"Probably," I said, "But when did Dumbledore ever listen to what the Ministry wanted? He's always done his own thing. And Moody's been getting into trouble for years from what Mr and Mrs Weasley were saying."

"Yeah, Moody is all attack first and ask questions later- just look at his dustbins," Ron said. "Balderdash," he added to the Fat Lady and the portrait swung open to reveal the Gryffindor common room, which was loud and packed.

"Let's get our Divination stuff," I said.

"Fine," Fang groaned.

The boys ran up to their dormitory to get their Divination things, and I ran up to my room to get mine, and we met again back down in the common room, where we found Neville, sitting alone in a corner, reading to himself. He looked a great deal calmer than he did after Moody's lesson, though not entirely normal. His eyes were quite red.

"You alright, Neville?" Harry asked.

"Oh, yes, I'm fine, thanks," Neville said. "Just reading a book Professor Moody lent me." He held up the book: Magical Water Plants of the Mediterranean.

"Apparently, Professor Sprout told Professor Moody I'm really good at Herbology," Neville said. There was a note of pride in his voice that I barely ever heard before. "He thought I'd like this."

Telling Neville what Professor Sprout said, I thought, was a very tactful way of cheering him up, for Neville rarely heard that he was good at anything. It was sort of like what Professor Lupin would of done.

The five of us took out our Divination books at the tables beside the fire in the common room and we set to work on our predictions for the month. An hour later, we had made very little progress and the tables we were using were littered with bits of parchment covered in sums and symbols, and I could of sworn my brain was frying.

"I haven't a clue what any of this means," I said, crumpling up yet another bit of parchment and throwing it over my shoulder.

"You know," Iggy said, a mischievous grin on his lips, "I do believe it is time to go back to the old Divination standby."

"What- make it up?" Fang asked.

"Of course," Iggy said, smiling as if he had just discovered how someone can survive on the sun. Ron cleared everything off the tables, dipped his quill into his bottle of ink and started to write.

"On Monday," he said as he wrote, "I am likely to develop a terrible cough due to the unlucky conjunction of Mars and Jupiter." He looked up, grinning. "You know her- just write a load of misery and she'll lap it up."

"Right," I said, crumpling up _another _piece of parchment and throwing it into the fire. "Okay- on Monday, I'll be in danger of- er- burns!" I said, looking at the fire again.

"You will be," Fang said darkly, "we're working with the skrewts again."

"On Tuesday, I'll...erm," Ron said, tapping his chin with his quill as I scribbled more and more tragic things onto the parchments.

"Lose a treasured possession," Harry offered, flicking through Unfogging the Future for more ideas.

"Good one," Ron said, writing it down, "because of...erm...Mercury. Why don't you get stabbed in the back by someone you thought was a friend?"

"Yeah, cool," Harry said, copying it down. "because Venus is in the...twelfth house."

"On Wednesday, I'll come off worse in a fight," Iggy said.

"Aah, I was going to be in a fight. Okay, I'll lose bet," Fang said.

"Yeah, Fang you can be betting on Iggy's fight," I said, writing down how I will fall off my broomstick from fifty feet in the air.

The five of us continued to write our fake prediction (which slowly became more and more tragic) for another hour, while the common room slowly emptied around us as people went to bed. Crookshanks wandered over to us and settled herself in my lap and stared at Harry, who was right opposite me, quite like Hermione would look at us now if she knew we weren't doing our homework properly.

Staring around the room, trying to think of something tragic I haven't used yet, I saw Fred and George sitting alone over to the corner, heads together, quills out, poring over a single piece of parchment. It was strange to see Fred and George working silently; they usually like to be the center of the attention, making lots of noise and making everyone laugh. There was something quite secretive about the way they were whispering to each other, which was how they spent most of the summer in the Burrow. I thought that it was another form for Weasley's Wizard Wheezes, but it didn't really look like it; if it was, then Lee would surely be with them. I wondered whether it had anything to do with the Triwizard Tournament.

Thinking about that, I realized that I had no idea how to get passed the judge to put my name in for the Tournament. I had thought about it over the last few days, but the more I thought about it, the more I realized there was no way to do it unless you were seventeen or older. But, I wasn't going to give up that easily.

As I watched Fred and George, George shook his head at Fred, scratched out something on the parchment, and said in a low, quiet voice that still traveled easily acorss the almost deserted room, "No- that sounds like we're accusing him- we've got to be careful with what we say."

George looked over and saw that most of us were watching them, but we all just grinned and turned back to our work. Didn't want them thinking we were eavesdropping. Shortly after that, the twin rolled up the parchment, said goodnight and went to their dormitory.

Fred and George had only been got ten minutes when the portrait hole opened and Hermione climbed into the common room, carrying loads of parchment in one hand, and a box in the other which rattled whenever she walked. Crookshanks leaped from my lap and onto the couch, where he purred and waited patiently for Hermione.

"Hello!" Hermione said brightly, "I've just finished!"

"So have I!" Ron said happily and he threw his quill onto the table. I had just finished as well, and I left my parchment on the table, quite happy with all the terrible things that were supposedly going to happen to me this month.

Hermione sat down on the couch where Crookshanks was waiting for her, and left the things she had been carrying on an empty chair, then she pulled Ron's predictions towards her.

"You're not going to have a good month," she said, reading what he had written.

"At least I've been forewarned," Ron said, yawning and lying on his back on the carpet.

"You seem to be drowning twice," Hermione noted.

"Oh, am I?" Ron said, sitting up again. "I'd better change one of them to being trampled by a Hippogriff."

"Don't you think it's a bit obvious that you've made these up?" Hermione asked, looking over the predictions the rest of us wrote.

"How dare you?" Iggy exclaimed, in mock outrage. "We've been working like house-elves up here!"

Hermione raised her eyebrows, looking angry.

"It's just an expression," Iggy said hastily.

"What's in the box?" Harry asked as he just finished his own predictions.

"Funny you should ask," Hermione said, casting a nasty look at Iggy. She took off the lid and showed us the contents. Inside the box was about fifty badges, all different colors, and all bearing the same letters: S.P.E.W.

"Spew?" Fang asked, taking one of the badges and looking at it. "What is it?"

"Not spew," Hermione said impatiently, "It's S-P-E-W. Stands for the Society for the Promotion of Elfish Welfare."

"Never heard of it," I said, taking a red badge and turning it around in my hands.

"Of course you haven't," Hermione said, " I've only just started it."

"Yeah?" Ron said, in mild surprise, "How many members have you got?"

"Well- if you five join, I'll have six," Hermione said.

"And you think we want to walk around wearing badges that say spew?" Iggy asked, raising his eyebrows.

"S-P-E-W!" Hermione said hotly. "It was going to be Stop the Outrages Abuse of Our Fellow Magical Creatures and Campaign for a Change in Their Legal Statues- bit it wouldn't fit. So that's the motto."

She brandished a sheet of parchment in our faces.

"I've been researching it in the library. Elf slavery goes back centuries! I can't believe no ones done anything about it before now."

"Hermione, open you ears a little! They like it! They like being enslaved," Ron said.

"Our short-term aims," Hermione said, speaking louder than Ron and acting as though he hadn't spoken, "are to secure house-elves fair wages and working conditions. Our long-term aims include changing the law about non-wand use, and trying to get an elf into Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures, because their shockingly underrepresented."

"And how to we do this?" Harry asked.

"We start by recruiting members," Hermione said happily, "I thought two Sickles to join- that gets you the badge- and the proceeds can fund our leaflet campaign. You're treasurer, Ron- I've got you a collecting tin upstairs- and Max, you're secretary so you might want to start writing down everything I'm saying now, as a record of our first meeting."

There was a pause, in which Hermione beamed at us, and I sat torn between admiration and exasperation at Hermione, and amusement at the look on Ron's face. The silence was broken, not by Ron, who looked too dumbstruck to ever speak again, but by soft taps on the window. I looked across the empty common room, and saw, illuminated by the moonlight, a brown and white owl, and a snowy owl.

"Freedom!" I cried, and jumped up and ran over to open the window.

"Hedwig!" Harry shouted, hot at my heels.

The two owls flew into the common room, soared across the room, then landed on top of our predictions.

"Hedwig has an answer!" Iggy said.

"About time," Harry said.

I walked over to Freedom, and was getting ready to untie the letter from his leg, when I noticed there wasn't one. The only letter was on Hedwig's leg. I sat back down on the couch, trying to cover up my emotions. It was something I was very good at.

I watched sadly as Harry untied the letter and he sat down beside me and read. Hedwig flew onto his knee and hooted softly, as Freedom flew onto my shoulder and started messing with my hair.

"What does it say?" Hermione asked. I looked over Harry's shoulder to see the letter that my father wrote. It was very short, and looked like it was written in a greay hurry.

Harry started reading it aloud.

_ Harry - I'm flying north immediately. This news about your scar is the latest in a series of strange rumors that have reached me here. If it hurts again, go straight to Dumbledore -they're saying he's got Mad-Eye out of retirement, which means he's reading the signs, even if no one else is._

_ I'll be in touch soon. My best to Max, Fang, Ron, Iggy, Hermione and Nudge. Keep your eyes open, Harry._

_Tell Max that I have to talk to her in person about what she wrote to me about. I hope she understands, but I can't explain everything in a letter. _

_ Sirius _

"He's coming back?" I asked, frowning. He knew how dangerous that was! He could get caught and put back in Azkaban!

"Dumbledore's reading the signs? What signs?" Ron asked.

"Harry- what's wrong?" Fang asked, for Harry had just hit himself on the forehead, causing Hedwig to fly off his lap.

"I shouldn't of told him!" Harry exclaimed.

"You really shouldn't," I said quietly.

"What are you on about?" Ron asked.

"I've made him think that he has to come back!" Harry said furiously. "Coming back because he thinks I'm in trouble! And there's nothing wrong with me! I don't have anything for you," he snapped at Hedwig, "you'll have to go back to the Owlery if you want food."

Hedwig looked very offended and took off for the open window, with Freedom following her.

"Sirius is coming back and most likely he's going to get caught, then put back into Azkaban! You didn't have to write to him just because you're scar was a little bit sore! Now I won't see my father again because he's coming back for you, then getting chucked back into Azkaban!" I snapped, looking at Harry.

As soon as I said it, I regretted it. I knew Harry never wanted Sirius to come back when he wrote to him. It was obvious that Harry was afraid of the same thing I was, but I couldn't help it.

Harry stared at me, and I saw in his eyes that he believed what I said. Now he was going to blame himself. Oh, I really need to work on keeping my mouth shut!

"Harry-" I started, but Harry cut me off.

"I'm going to bed," he said, not looking at anyone as he climbed the stairs to his room.

After a few minutes of silence, I said, "I'm going to bed too. See you in the morning."

I changed into my pajamas when I got to my dormitory, and climbed into my four-poster, but I wasn't feeling even a tiny bit tired.

If Sirius got caught, Harry would blame himself, and he wouldn't be the same person. I just hope Sirius came to his senses, realized there was nothing wrong with Harry, and stay wherever he is.

I heard Hermione come into the dorm, but I didn't talk to her.

For a long time, I just lay, staring up at the dark canopy of the bed, thinking about Harry and Sirius. Finally, I drifted off to sleep, but the worry was always there in the back of my mind.

* * *

><p><em><strong>I AM SO SORRY! <strong>_

_**I am really sorry that it took so long to write this! But I had tests, and I needed to study, and I still have lots of football... my life has been quite hectic. **_

_**But thankfully now because I'm on my holidays things have calmed down a lot, so I can go on fanfiction a lot more. **_

_**Thanks for being patient with me, everyone. You really are the best, and I really hope I never goes this long without updating again. **_

_**As always, when you review, you get cookies and butterbeer so... **_

_**REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW! :D**_

_**lOvE yOu! :P**_

_**-Rach ;) **_


	12. Beauxbatons and Durmstrang

_**AUTHORS NOTE :P**_

_**Hello all! Here's the newest chapter, and I hope everyone likes it :) two more chapters before the champions are chosen :D**_

_**Now I'll answer some reviews... **_

_**Courtney DiLaurentis: be patient, it will happen soon :)**_

_**Pyro and Darnet co: you'll find out who the little boy is in a couple of chapters. And don't worry about bad reviews, they happen to everyone. Just ignore the haters, and concentrate on all the praising :)**_

_**jdr ride: sorry about the spelling mistakes... and everything shall be revealed shortly... **_

_**Arkell26: you really think so? thanks so much :)**_

_**Annie Bell: the suspense always makes everything better :) **_

_**signofthemoon: sorry about that :/**_

_**Now, let us continue with the story!**_

_**-Rach ;)**_

* * *

><p><em><strong>Max's POV<strong>_

When I woke up the next morning, I had a plan. I got quietly got out of bed, got dressed and grabbed a piece of parchment and a quill. I left the dormitory without waking Hermione, and went down to the common room. I looked around, making sure no one was there, even though it was just after dawn. I climbed out of the portrait hole and walked through the silent castle. I arrived in the Owlery, which was in the West Tower.

The Owlery was a huge, circular room, cold and drafty because none of the windows had any glass in them. The floor was covered in straw, owl droppings, and the skeletons of mice and other small animals the owls ate. There were hundreds of owls, all different species imaginable, most of them asleep. I looked around for Freedom, but couldn't find him with the other owls.

"Just find him, okay? Before the Dementors do," I heard a familiar voice saying. It was Harry.

I looked over at the window where I heard his voice, and saw him tying a letter to Hedwig's leg. She hooted softly and nibbled at Harry's ear before spreading her wings and taking off through the window.

"What are you doing here?" I asked, walking closer to Harry. He wheeled around, blushing slightly. "I wrote a letter to Sirius, telling him that I probably imagined the pain in my scar, and not to come," Harry answered.

"But that's a lie," I said, "You know you didn't imagine the pain in your scar."

"I know that," Harry said, "I just don't want him to get caught. If he does, it'll be all my fault." I walked up beside Harry by the window and took Harry's hand. "I'm sorry about what I said last night, Harry. I wasn't thinking straight. I'm just really worried about Sirius."

Harry sighed, and squeezed my hand. "Don't worry about it Maxie. I understand. I just overreacted, I guess. I really shouldn't of told him, though."

"No, Harry. You were just worried. I would of done the same thing," I said. Harry looked at me, and he grinned. His green eyes sparkled brightly when he smiled, and he still hadn't let go of my hand.

"There have been a few times over the summer when I nearly wrote to him about my nightmares," I said quietly. I haven't told anyone this, and didn't like thinking about.

"What nightmares?" Harry asked.

"Nightmares about the School," I said. There was no need to say anything else.

"Why did you come up here?" Harry asked me after a few minutes. I pulled the parchment and quill out of my pocket and showed them to Harry.

"What-?" he started, then his eyes widened. "You were coming up to write a letter to Sirius, weren't you?" he asked.

"You caught me," I said, grinning sheepishly.

"What were you going to tell him?" Harry chuckled.

"I'm not even sure..." I said. "That you were off you're rocker and for him to stay where he was, well away from here. I would of said anything to make sure he stayed away."

"You know he's still going to come," Harry said quietly.

"Yeah, I know."

"Harry, that was a lie," Hermione said sternly at breakfast in the Great Hall after we told them what Harry did. "You know you're scar was actually hurting."

"That's what I said," I said, buttering my toast. .

"So what if I lied?" Harry said, "He isn't going to get chucked back into Azkaban because of me."

"Drop it," Ron said sharply to Hermione, who looked like she was going to argue more. For once, Hermione actually listened to him and kept her mouth shut.

Over the next few weeks, I tried my best not to worry about Sirius, but I couldn't stop from looking around every morning at the owls, looking for Hedwig, or reading the Daily Prophet every morning to see if he got caught. I tried my best not to see the horrible images of Sirius getting captured by Dementors at night. In classes, I tried to keep my mind off my father. I wish there was still Quidditch to distract me.

Most nights, I left my dormitory late at night after everyone had gone to sleep, and gone out to the forest to fly. I'd stretch out my wings and fly all over the grounds of Hogwarts; over the lake, over the forest, over Hagrid's hut. After a few nights of doing it on my own, I'd wake up the others from the flock, and we'd all fly together for hours. It didn't feel right, though, without the two youngest flock members. Without Angel and the Gasman there, it felt like my left wing was missing.

Our lessons were becoming more difficult and demanding than ever before. Especially in Defense Against the Dark Arts.

Professor Moody had surprised us all by announcing that he was going to put the Imperius Curse on each of us in turn, to show us it's power and whether or not anyone can resist it.

"But you said it was illegal," Iggy said as Moody cleared away the desks with his wand, leaving a huge clear space in the middle of the classroom. "You said to use it on another human was-"

"Dumbledore wants you taught what it feels like," Moody said, his magical eye fixing on Iggy with an eerie, unblinking stare. "If you'd rather learn it the hard way- when someone's putting it on you so that they can completely control you- fine by me. You're excused. Off you go."

He pointed a gnarled finger to the door. Iggy didn't move, he just stared back at Moody and after a few seconds, Moody looked away.

He began to beckon students to the front of the class one by one and put the Imperius Curse on them.

I watched as one by one, my classmates did strange and extraordinary things under the influence of the Imperius Curse. Dean hopped around the class three times without taking a break, Lavender imitated a squirrel, Neville performed some amazing gymnastics that he sure wouldn't of been able to do in his normal state. Yet no one was able to shake off the curse.

"Potter," Moody growled, "you next."

Harry moved forward into the middle of the class. Moody raised his wand and said, "_Imperio!" _

Harry's face went completely blank and he looked very relaxed.

"Jump on the desk, Potter," Moody ordered. Harry bent his knees, ready to jump...but he never moved. He looked like he was concentrating very hard, but after a few minutes, Harry kinda fell over onto the desk, knocking it over. It seemed he tried not to jump, and still jump.

"Now that's more like it!" Moody growled. "Look at that, you lot. Potter fought! He fought, and he nearly beat it! We'll try it again, Potter, and I want everyone watching closely."

He put Harry under the Imperius Curse five more times. Each time Harry fought it, and he always ended up falling over. But the last time, Harry managed to shake it off completely.

"Miss Ride, you're next," Moody growled after he let Harry sit down and nurse his aching knees. I walked over to the middle of the classroom and stared Moody in the eyes. "_Imperio!" _he cried.

Every worry, every thought, every feeling was blissfully erased from my mind. I felt relaxed, and happy. Then I heard a dull voice, from far away, trying to tell me to do something. _Shut up,_ I told the voice, and it was gone. I didn't hear anything else, and my mind was left happily blank. But only after a few minutes of this wonderful bliss is was gone.

"Merlins beard!" Moody cried, actually smiled. "You didn't hear anything, did you?" he asked. I frowned, confused, and shook my head. "I was telling you to dance, and do back flips and the likes. But you never moved. What happened?"

"I'm not sure," I said. "I never heard anything."

"Well that's even more remarkable than Potter. We'll try that again, shall we?" Moody said and I nodded.

He cast the spell again, but instead of the blissful oblivion, there was a voice. But it wasn't Moody's telling me to something strange. It was the Voice. Yes I have a voice in my head, but I also have wings, so no biggie.

_**You have a strong mind Maximum. Everyone in the flock does. This will do you well in the war.**_

_War? What war? _I asked, but seeing as it was the Voice, it never answered me. It rarely did.

It was another few seconds before Moody lifted the spell. I could see my classmates staring at me in astonishment, but none near as astonished as Moody. "I think Miss Ride deserves a round of applause," Moody said, clapping his gnarled hands together. Everyone else clapped, then I walked back to where I was sitting.

When Moody called on Iggy, and then Fang, they were the same as me. They stood in the middle of the room while Moody put the Imperius Curse on them, but they didn't move when Moody ordered them to do something. I guess all those years in the School and disobeying whitecoats came in handy after all.

After Moody putting the curse on me, Harry, Fang and Iggy four times each again, we were allowed to go.

"The way he talks," Harry grumbled as he limped out of the Defense Against the Dark Arts, "you'd think we were all going to be attacked any second."

"Yeah I know," Ron said, who was still skipping every second step or so. He had more difficulty shaking off the spell than the rest of us, though Moody had assured him that the effects would wear off by lunchtime. "Talk about paranoid..." Ron nervously glanced over his shoulder, as if checking that Moody was indeed out of earshot. "No wonder they were glad to get rid of him at the Ministry. Did you hear him telling Seamus what he did to that witch that shouted `Boo!' behind him on April's Fool's Day? And when are we meant to read up on the Imperius Curse with everything else we've got to do?"

All the fourth years have noticed a definite increase in the work and homework we were bring given. Professor McGonagall had explained why when her Transfiguration class erupted in moans when she gave us loads of homework.

"You are all now entering a most important part of your magical education!" she said, her eyes flashing dangerously behind her glasses. "Your Ordinary Wizarding Levels are drawing closer-"

"We don't take O.W.L's till fifth year!" Dean said crossly.

"That may be so, but believe me Mr Thomas, you need all the preparation you can get. Miss Granger seems to be the only one who successfully managed to turn a hedgehog into a pincushion, and Mr Martinez and Miss Ride are the only ones getting closer and closer to making a satisfactory pincushion! I might remind you, Mr Thomas, that you're pincushion still curls up in fright when someone approaches it," McGonagall said.

Hermione blushed, and my cheeks went rather pink. Fang remained indifferent, but I could tell he was very pleased with himself.

Me, Harry, Ron, Fang and Iggy were all very amused when Professor Trelawney told us that we all received full marks for our predictions. She read aloud many of our predictions, complimenting the five for our unflinching acceptance at what was to happen- but we were all less amused when she told us we had to do one for the following month; we were running out of disasters.

Meanwhile, Professor Binns, the ghost that teaches History of Magic had us writing essays on the goblin rebellions of the eighteenth century. Professor Snape was making us research antidotes. We all took this one very seriously, as he had hinted that he might be poisoning someone in the class before Christmas to see if the antidote worked. Professor Flitwick asked us to read three extra books in preparation for our lesson on Summoning Charms.

Even Hagrid had added on the workload. The Blast-Ended Skrewts were growing at a remarkable pace given that nobody had yet figured out what they ate. Hagrid was delighted, and at part of our project, he suggested that we come down in the evenings to his hut and observe the Skrewts and note their behavior.

"I will not!" Malfoy exclaimed flatly after Hagrid made his suggestion. "I see enough of these foul things during our lessons, thanks."

Hagrid's smile faded.

"Yeh'll do wha' yer told," he growled, "or I'll be takin' a leaf outta Proffesor Moody's book... I hear yeh made a good ferret, Malfoy."

The Gryffindor's roared with laughter. Malfoy's pale face flushed with anger, but the memory of Moody's punishment was apparently too painful because he kept his mouth shut for the rest of the class.

The six of us walked back to the castle that night in high spirits. Seeing Hagrid get one over on Malfoy was always great to see, especially after everything Malfoy did to get Hagrid fired last year.

We entered the Entrance Hall, and I spotted Nudge walking down the marble staircase with her friends. She saw us, told her friends that she'd catch up, then she ran over to us.

"Hey guys! I haven't talked to you much since we started school this year! What do you think of Moody? Have you seen his face? It's all scarred! But his classes are so interesting! He really knows his stuff. Like Lupin! I really miss him- do you think we'll ever see him again-?"

"I'm sure we will Nudge," Fang said, putting his arm on hers and leading her over to where there was a large crowd of students gathered around a large sign. We followed them, curious.

Iggy, being the tallest, stood on tiptoe to see over the heads of everyone else and read the sign aloud. I was glad that during the summer Mrs Weasley gave the flock little Muggle lessons, or else we'd be entirely clueless and not very good at reading or spelling.

_TRIWIZARD TOURNAMENT: THE DELEGATIONS FROM BEAUXBATONS AND DURMSTRANG WILL BE ARRIVING AT 6 O'CLOCK ON FRIDAY THE 30TH OF OCTOBER. LESSONS WILL END HALF AN HOUR EARLY-" _

"Brilliant," I said, grinning, "Last class on Friday is Potions. Snape won't have time to poison anyone."

_STUDENTS WILL RETURN THEIR BAGS AND BOOKS BACK TO THEIR DORMITORIES AND ASSEMBLE IN FRONT OF THE CASTLE TO GREET OUR GUESTS BEFORE THE WELCOMING FEAST._

"Only a week away!" said Ernie Macmillian, a Hufflepuff, emerging from the crowd, his eyes gleaming. "I wonder if Cedric knows. Think I'll go tell him..."

"Cedric?" Harry asked, staring after Ernie.

"He must be entering the tournament," Nudge said, her eyes sparkling with excitement of everything that was happening.

"That idiot? Hogwarts champion?" Ron said as we pushed our way through the crowd towards the staircase.

"He ins't an idiot. You just don't like him because he beat Gryffindor at Quidditch," Hermione said. "I've heard he's a really good student- and prefect." She spoke as if him being a prefect settled everything.

"You only like him because he's handsome," Iggy said, rolling his eyes.

"Excuse me, I don't like people just because their handsome!" Hermione said hotly.

Ron gave a loud, fake cough which sounded a lot like, "Lockhart!"

The appearance of the sign in the Entrance Hall had an obvious effect upon the inhabitants of the castle. During the following week, it was the only thing people seemed to talk about, no matter where I went. The Triwizard Tournament. I still hadn't come up with a genius plan to enter the Tournament, but I was still thinking hard whenever I had the chance. I was thinking about using an Aging Potion, but after reading about them in the library, I knew it wouldn't work.

Rumors were flying around the castle like crazy: who was trying for Hogwarts champion, what the tournament would involve, how different the students were from ourselves.

I also noticed that the castle seemed to be undergoing an extra-thorough cleaning.

Several usually grimy portraits had been scrubbed, much to the displeasure to the people in the pictures, who sat huddled in the corner of the frame, muttering darkly and wincing as they felt their raw, pink faces. The suits of armor were gleaming and moving without making a single squeak and Argus Filch, the caretaker, was behaving so ferociously to any students that forgot to wipe their shoes that he terrified a pair of first-year girls into hysterics.

Other members of staff seemed oddly tense as well.

"Longbottom, kindly do not reveal that you cannot perform a simply Switching Spell in front of anyone from Durmstrang," McGonagall barked after a difficult lesson, where Neville had accidentally transplanted his own ears onto a cactus.

When we went down to breakfast on the thirtieth of October, we found that the Great Hall had been decorated over night. There were huge silk banners hanging from the walls, each of them representing each of the Hogwarts houses; a red with a gold lion for Gryffindor, blue with a bronze eagle for Ravenclaw, yellow with a black badger for Hufflepuff, and green with a silver serpent for Slytherin. Behind the teachers table was the largest banner that bore the Hogwarts coat of arms: a lion, an eagle, a badger and a snake all united around a large H.

The six of us sat down beside Fred and George at the Gryffindor table. Once again, and most unusually, they were sitting apart from everyone else and talking in very low voices. Ron led the way over to them.

"It's a bummer, alright," George said gloomily, running his hand through his hair, "But if he won't talk to us in person, we'll have to send him the letter anyway. Or we'll stuff it into his hand. He can't avoid us forever."

"Who's avoiding you?" Ron asked, sitting beside his brothers.

"Wish you would," Fred said, irritated.

"What's a bummer?" Ron asked George.

"Having a nosing git like you for a brother," George said.

"Have you come up with any ideas on the Triwizard Tournament?" I asked. "Thought about how you were trying to enter?"

"I asked McGonagall how they were picking the champions, but she wasn't telling," George said bitterly. "She told me to shut up and get on with transfiguring my raccoon."

"Wonder what the tasks are going to be?" Iggy said thoughtfully. "You know I bet we could do them," he said, looking around at the six of us, "We've done dangerous stuff before... Heck, I bet Angel could do them without breaking a sweat."

"Well you haven't done dangerous stuff in front of a panel of judges, have you?" Fred said. "McGonagall said that the champions get awarded points on how well they do on the tasks."

"Who are the judges?" Harry asked.

"Well, the Head of the schools are always on the panel," Hermione said and everyone looked at her, rather surprised, "because all three of them were injured during the Tournament of 1792, when a cockatrice the champions were meant to be catching when on a rampage."

She noticed all of us looking at her and said, with her usual air of impatience she got when people didn't read the same books as her, "It's all in Hogwarts, A History. Though, of course, that's books not entirely reliable. A Revised History of Hogwarts would be a more accurate title. Or a Highly Biased and Selective History of Hogwarts, Which Glosses Over the Nastier Aspects of the School."

"What are you talking about?" Fang asked, though I knew what was coming.

"House-elves!" Hermione said, her eyes flashing dangerously. "Not once in a thousand pages does that book mention that Hogwarts is enslaving hundreds of elves!"

I chocked on my cereal and looked at Hermione. "Hogwart, A History is a thousand pages?"

Hermione's eyes narrowed. "Yes. You should know, you've read it, haven't you?"

I coughed. "Yeah, yeah I did. I just enjoyed it so much it only seemed like one hundred pages," I lied easily, but it was obvious that Hermione knew I never read the book.

Our lack of enthusiasm to S.P.E.W had done nothing whatsoever to curb Hermione's determination to pursue justice for house-elves. While I agreed completely with what she was trying to do, I knew it wouldn't work. House-elves were happy the way they were, but Hermione couldn't see that. But it was terrible the way their masters treated them. Now that should be Hermione's main priority, not wages and holidays.

True, the five of us had payed the two Sickles for a S.P.E.W badge, but we only did that to keep her quiet, while Nudge said she didn't have the two Sickles on her, even though I knew for a fact that she had a purse full of money in her trunk.

Hermione had been badgering us ever since to first wear the badges, then to get others to do the same and she had taken to rattling around the Gryffindor common room every evening, cornering people and shaking the collecting tin under their noses.

"You do realize that your sheets are changed, your fires lit, and your meals are cooked by a group of creatures that are unpaid and enslaved?" she kept saying fiercely.

Some people, like Neville, had just payed Hermione to keep her quiet and to stop her glowering at them, while some actually seemed mildly interested, but didn't give her the money. Many regarded the whole thing as a joke.

Ron rolled his eyes at the ceiling, and the twins became very interested in their bacon (the two of them had refused to buy S.P.E.W badges). But after a few seconds, George looked up and leaned in toward Hermione.

"Listen, Hermione, have you ever actually been down in the kitchens?" he asked.

"No, of course not," Hermione said curtly, "I hardly think students are supposed to-"

"Well we have," Fred cut her off, gesturing to himself and George. "Loads of times, to nick food. And we've meet them, and they're happy. They think they have the best job in the world-"

"Because they're uneducated and brainwashed!" Hermione cried, but her following words were drowned out by the sudden whooshing from overhead, which announced the arrival of the post owls. I looked up and saw Hedwig soaring towards Harry. Hermione stopped talking at once, looking at Hedwig with wide eyes. I watched anxiously as Hedwig landed on Harry's shoulder and stuck her leg out with the letter on it.

_Please let him be half way around the world. Please let him be half way around the world. Please let him be... _

Harry pulled off Sirius's reply and offered Hedwig some of his bacon which she ate gratefully. Then checking that Fred and George were safely immersed in further discussions of the Tournament, Harry read out Sirius's reply in a whisper.

_Nice try, Harry. _

_I'm back in the country and well hidden. There's no need to worry. I want you and Max, and any of the others, to keep me posted on anything that's going on in Hogwarts. Don't be using Hediwg, or Freedom, the entire time, keep changing owls. Don't worry about me, just watch out for yourselves- and I'm talking to all of you when I saw that, even Nudge. And Harry, don't forget what I said about your scar._

_Sirius. _

"Why do you have to keep changing owls?" Iggy asked.

"Because Hedwig is too noticeable," I said, rubbing Hedwig's head. "She'll attract too much attention. A snowy owl that keeps flying back and forth to wherever he's hiding... They aren't really native birds, are they?"

I watched Harry roll up the letter and put it inside his robes. I didn't know if I was more, or less, worried than before Harry got the letter. I suppose that Sirius getting back in the country without getting caught was something. I couldn't deny either that the idea that my father was even closer now was reassuring. At least we wouldn't have to wait as long for a response when we wrote.

"Thanks Hedwig," Harry said, stroking her. She hooted sleepily, dipped her beak into his goblet of pumpkin juice then took off again, clearly desperate for a nice long sleep in the Owlery.

There was a feeling of anticipation in the air that whole day. Nobody payed attention in classes, being more interested in the arrival of the people from Durmstrang and Beauxbatons that evening; I couldn't even believe it, but Potions was even more bearable than usual, and it was half an hour shorter.

When the bell rang early, the six of us hurried up to Gryffindor Tower, left our bags in our rooms and pulled on our cloaks, then rushed back down to the Entrance Hall.

The Heads of Houses were ordering their students into lines.

"Weasley, straighten your hat," McGonagall snapped at Ron. "Miss Ride, take that ridiculous thing out of your hair."

I scowled and took out the ruby hair clip that Harry had gotten me for Christmas two years ago, but put it right back into my hair when McGonagall turned around. Harry grinned at me when it saw it was back in my hair, and I shrugged, grinning back.

"Follow me please," McGonagall said. "First-years at the front, and then seconds years, and so on. No pushing..."

We filed down the steps and lined up in front of the castle. It was a cold, clear evening; dusk was falling and a pale, transparent looking moon was already shining brightly over the Forest. I saw Dennis Creevey shaking and shivering with anticipation among the first-years.

I saw Nudge standing in the second row, babbling away to her friends, her eyes shining with excitement. I waved at her and she beamed at me and mouthed "I'm so freaking excited!" I laughed and mouthed, "So am I!" She smiled a huge, radiant smile again and turned back to her friends when they started talking to her again.

"Nearly six," Ron said, checking his watch then looking down the drive that led to the front gates. "How'd reckon they're coming? The train?"

"I doubt it," Hermione said.

"How then? Broomsticks?" Fang asked, raising his dark eyebrows.

"Yeah, go fly to France on a broomstick and see if its fun," I said, sarcasm dripping from every word. He playfully hit my arm.

"How then?" Iggy asked. "Portkey?"

"Or they could Apparate," Ron suggested. "Maybe you can do it if you're under seventeen where they're from?"

"You can't Apparate inside the Hogwarts grounds, how often do I have to tell you?" Hermione said impatiently.

We scanned the darkening grounds excitedly but nothing was moving; everything was still and silent, and quiet as usual. I was starting to feel cold. Oh, I wish they'd hurry up, I kept thinking. Maybe they were preparing for some dramatic entrance... I remember what Mr Weasley said back at the camp before the Quidditch World Cup: "always the same- we can't resist showing off when we get together."

And then Dumbledore called out from where he was standing at the back with the other teachers, "Aha! Unless I am mistaken, the delegations from Beauxbatons are approaching!"

"Where?" a sixth year called.

"There!" I heard Nudge shout, pointing towards the forest. I could see it too- I suppose all the flock could, with our raptor vision.

Something large, much larger than a broomstick- or, well, a hundred broomsticks- were hurtling across the darkening sky toward the castle, growling larger all the time.

"It's a dragon!" a first-year shouted.

"Don't be stupid- it's a flying house!" Dennis Creevey said.

Dennis's guess was closer. As the gigantic black shape skimmed over the treetops of the Forbidden Forest and the lights shining from the castle widows hit it, we saw a huge, powder blue, hoarse drawn carriage, the size of a large house, soaring towards us, pulled through the air by a dozen winged horses, all palominos and each the size of an elephant.

The front three rows of students drew backwards as the carriage hurtled ever lower, coming in to land at a tremendous speed- then with a huge crash that made Neville jump backwards into a Slytherin's foot, the horses hooves, the same size as dinner plates, landed on the grass. A second later the carriage landed, bouncing on it's huge wheels, which the large horses tossed their heads and rolled their fiery red eyes.

I just had time to see that the door of the carriage bore a coat of arms (two crossed, golden wands, each emitting three golden stars) before it opened. A very good looking boy in pale blue robes jumped down from the carriage, bent forward, fumbled for a second with something on the carriage door, then unfolded a set of golden steps. He hopped back respectfully. Then I saw a shining, high-heeled black shoe emerging from the inside of the carriage. I swear, it was the size of a kids sled.

It was followed immediately by the largest woman I have ever seen in my life. The size of the carriage and the horses was explained. A few people actually gasped.

I'd only seen one person as big as this woman, and that was Hagrid; I doubt there was an inch difference in their height. Yet, for some reason- maybe because I was so used to how tall Hagrid was- this woman seemed even bigger.

As she stepped into the light from the entrance hall, she was revealed to have a handsome, olive-skinned face (kinda the same shade as Fang's skin, but a little darker) and she had large, beady black eyes and a beaky nose. Her hair was pulled back in a tight, shining bun at the base of her neck. She was dressed head to foot in black satin and she was wearing loads of opal rings and necklaces.

Dumbledore started to clap, and the students followed his lead, breaking into applause and some cheering. Many students were standing on tiptoe, to get a better look at the huge woman.

Her face relaxed into a gracious smile and she walked up to Dumbledore, extending a glittering hand. Dumbledore, though quite tall himself, had barely bend to kiss it.

"My dear Madame Maxime," he said kindly, beaming, "Welcome to Hogwarts."

"Dumbly-dort," Maxime said, and I snorted, but covered it with a cough when McGonagall turned to glare at me, "I 'ope you are well?"

"I'm feeling marvelous, I thank you," Dumbledore said.

"My pupils," Maxime, waving her enormous hand carelessly behind her.

I only noticed now that there were a few dozen boys and girls, all in their late teens by the look of them, now standing behind Madame Maxime. They were all shivering, which wasn't surprising, given that their uniforms were made of fine silk, and none of them were wearing cloaks. A few had scarves or shawls wrapped around their heads. From what I could see of them, they were all staring up at Hogwarts with apprehensive looks on their faces.

" 'As Karkaroff arrived yet?" Maxime asked.

"He should be here any moment," Dumbledore said. "Would you like to wait and greet him or would you prefer to go inside to the warmth and help yourselves to a trifle?"

"Warm up, I think," Maxime said, "But ze 'orses-"

"Our Care of Magical Creatures teacher shall be delighted to tend to them," Dumbledore said, "the moment he had returned from dealing with a situation that has arisen with some of his other- er- charges."

"Skrewts," I muttered to Harry, grinning slightly.

"My steeds require- er- forceful 'andling," said Maxime, looking as if she highly doubted any Care of Magical Creatures teacher at Hogwarts could do the job. Stuck up much? "Zey are very strong."

"I assure you that Hagird will be well for the job," Dumbledore said, smiling. If I was him I would of her where she can go stuff her strong horses...

"Very well," Maxime said, bowing slightly. "Will you tell zis 'Agrid zat ze 'orses drink only single-malt whiskey?"

"I will of course, Madame," Dumbledore said, also bowing.

"Come," Maxime said to her students and the Hogwarts students parted like the Red Sea to allow her and her students pass up the stone steps.

"How big d'you reckon Durmstang's horses are going to be?" Seamus asked, leaning over Lavender and Parvarti to talk to us.

"Well if they're any bigger then that lot, Hagrid won't be able to handle them," Iggy said. "That is if he hasn't been attacked by Skrewts. Wonder what's wrong with them?"

"Maybe they escaped," I said hopefully, imaging the strange crab like creatures scuttling into the Forbidden Forest, and getting trampled on by centaurs...

"Oh don't say that," Hermione shivered, but it had nothing to do with the cold, "Imagine them loose in the grounds..."

For a few minutes, we stood, shivering slightly now, waiting for the Durmstang party to arrive. Mostly everyone was gazing hopefully up at the sky.

For those few minutes, the only thing breaking the silence was Madame Maxime's horses, snorting and stamping. But then- "Can you hear that?" Fang asked suddenly.

I listened. A loud and oddly eerie noise was drifting towards us from out in the darkness:a muffled rumbling and sucking sound, as though there was a huge vacuum cleaner sucking up the lake.

"The lake!" yelled Lee, pointing down to it, "Look at the lake!"

From where we were standing on top of the lawns that were overlooking the grounds, we had a clear view of the smooth black surface of the water- except the water wasn't smooth at all. Some disturbance was taking place deep, deep down in the center. Great bubbles were popping up at the surface, waves were washing over the muddy banks- and then, out in the middle of the lake, a whirlpool appeared, as if a giant plug had just been pulled out of the floor of the lake.

What seemed to be a long, black pole began slowly rising out of the heart of the whirlpool... and then I saw the rigging...

"It's a mast!" I said.

Slowly, the ship emerged from the water, gleaming in the moonlight. It had a strangely skeletal look about it, as though it was a resurrected wreck, and the dim, misty lights shimmering at it's portholes looked like ghostly eyes. Finally with a great sloshing noise, the ship emerged entirely, bobbing on the wavy water and began to glide towards the bank. A few minutes later, we heard the splash of an anchor being thrown into the shallows, and the thud of a plank being lowered onto the bank.

People were walking slowly off the boat onto the bank. All of them seemed to be built like Crabbe and Goyle... but as they drew closer, I saw that the bulk was really due to the fact that they were wearing cloaks of some kind of shaggy, matted fur. But the man leading them up to the castle was wearing a different sort of fur: sleek and soft, like his hair.

"Dumbledore!" he called heartily as he walked up the stone steps. "How are you my dear fellow, how are you?"

"Blooming, thank you, Professor Karkaroff," Dumbledore replied. Karkaroff had a fruity, unctuous voice; when he stepped into the light pouring from the doors of the castle, we saw he was a thin man like Dumbledore, and his goatee (ending in a little curl- I really wanted to laugh at it! It was ridiculous! But I refrained myself...barely...) didn't hide his weak chin. When he reached Dumbledore, he shook his hand with both of his own.

"Dear old Hogwarts," he said, looking at the castle and smiling. His teeth were really yellow. I saw Nudge sticking her tongue out and miming getting sick.

I noticed that Karkaroff's smiles didn't quite reach his eyes- not the way Dumbledore's did. Karkaroff's eyes remained cold and lifeless. "How good it is to be here, how good..." Karkaroff went in. "Viktor, come along, into the warmth... you don't mind, Dumbledore? Viktor has a slight head cold..."

Karkaroff beckoned one of his students forward. As the boy passed, I saw the curved nose, the thick dark eyebrows. I didn't really need the punch in the arm from Ron, or the hiss in my ear to know who he was (he was punching all of us, and whispering who the boy was to everyone in our group).

"Max- It's Krum!"

* * *

><p><em><strong>And here it it! <strong>_

_**I am very sorry this took so long! I'm really enjoying my summer holidays, and I'm busy babysitting and doing other things. Also, I have recently become addicted (once again) to Avatar: The Last Airbender. **_

_**Anyone else watch it? I looooooooooooooooove it! I really like Zuko now, before I hated him, but now I love him! **_

_**Anyway, I hope the chapter was enjoyable and everyone liked their butterbeer and cookies ;)**_

_**Oh anyone here read the Mortal Instruments books? I read the first one, and bought the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th a few days ago. But I'm reading another now (Inkdeath from the Inkheart series- anyone read them?) so I can't start the others yet. Are they any good? I liked the 1st one so I hope I like the others too :)**_

_**I'm going swimming tonight for the first time in like, 3 years! and I live 5 minutes away from the beach, and an indoor swimming pool! I'm so excited! We're going to the swimming pool, though. We're not swimming in the ocean at night- I'm never doing that again!**_

_**Some people are saying they can't wait for the Yule Ball and I can't wait to write it! But it's in another 8 chapters so you'll have to be patient! I'll try and be really fast so we can read about the Yule Ball faster! I promise!**_

_**Anyway, like always, when you review you get free butterbeer and cookies! and because it's summer, have some ice cream too! So... **_

_**REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW! **_

_**LoVe YoU! x**_

_**-Rach ;)**_


	13. The Goblet of Fire

**AUTHORS NOTE! :_P_**

**_Hello my lovelies! Here is the next chapter and I hope everyone enjoys reading it :)_**

**_I shall now answer some reviews from the last chapter :D_**

**_AnikaandAj: I had a lot of fun swimming! Thanks!_**

**_Felidaes Tale: Yes, that and all of the flock are very strong minded and strong willed from being in the School so long and after everything that happened to them during their life._**

**_Arkell26: oh I love Zuko so much in the 3rd season! I think him and Katara would be really cute together, but her and Aang are adorable too :*_**

**_Courtney DiLaurentis: I can't wait to read them!_**

**_signofthemoon: I love Jace and Alec they sound good looking. I can't wait for the movie! But I heard Jamie Campbell Bower is playing Jace and I don't really like him... :/ Alex Pettyfer was offered the part, but he turned it down :/ I'll have a look for those books next time I'm in town. _**

**_Annie Bell: I like all the evil characters that turn good too :)_**

**_And to everyone that told me about The Legend of Korra, thanks! I've heard of it, but I've never seen it and I never knew it was the sequel to Avatar! I'll watch it when I finish watching the whole Avatar series! Thanks everyone :)_**

**_-Rach ;)_**

* * *

><p><strong>Max's <em><strong>POV<strong>_**

"I don't believe it," Ron said in a stunned voice, as all the Hogwarts students filed back up the steps behind the Durmstrang students. "Krum! Viktor Krum!"

"For heavens sake Ron, he's only a Quidditch player," Hermione said.

"Only a Quidditch player?" Ron gasped, staring at Hermione like she had three heads. "Hermione- he's the best Seeker in the world! He's way better than Harry!"

"Wow, thanks Ron," Harry deadpanned. We all laughed, but Ron continued his fangirling as if Harry hadn't said anything. "I had no idea he was still in school! I never thought he was that young!"

As we crossed the entrance hall with the rest of the Hogwarts students, I saw Lee jumping up and down on his feet to get a better look at Krum. Several sixth-year girls were searching their pockets as they walked- "Oh I don't believe it. I haven't got a quill on me!"

"D'you think he'll sign my hat in lipstick?"

"That's just disgusting," I said, wincing as I passed the girls that were now squabbling over lipstick.

"Well, I'm getting an autograph if I can," Ron said. "You haven't got a quill, have you Harry?"

"No there upstairs in my bag," Harry answered. Well, at least Harry wasn't freaking out about Krum- well, I suppose being famous, you didn't really care about other famous people.

We walked over to the Gryffindor table and sat down. Ron took care to sit on the side where he had a clear view of the doorway, because Krum and everyone else from Durmstrang were gathered around the door, not sure where to go. The students from Beauxbatons had sat down at the Ravenclaw table. They were looking around the Great Hall with glum expressions on their faces. Three of the girls were still clutching scarves and shawls around themselves.

"It's not that cold," Iggy said defensively, "Why didn't they just bring cloaks? Snobby French..."

"Oh come on, sit over here," Ron was muttering. "Over here! Hermione, budge up, make some space-"

"What?"

"Too late," Ron said bitterly.

Viktor Krum and his fellow Durmstrang students had settled themselves down at the Slytherin table. I could see Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle looking very smug about this. As I was watching, Malfoy leaned over to speak to Krum.

"Yeah, that's right, swarm up to Krum, you ferret," said Ron scathingly. "I bet Krum can see right through him though... bet he gets people fawning over him all the time... Where d'you reckon their going to sleep? We could offer him space in our dormitory!" he said, looking at Harry, Fang and Iggy, who looked at him with raised eyebrows. "I wouldn't mind giving him my bed, I could kip on a camp bed..."

Me and Hermione snorted.

"They look a lot happier then the Beauxbaton's crowd," Harry noted. The Durmstrang students were pulling off their heavy fur coats and looking up at the starry ceiling with expressions of interest; a couple of them were picking up theor golden plates and goblets and examining them, looking impressed.

Up at the staff table, the caretaker, Filch, was adding extra chairs. He was wearing his moldy tailcoat in honor of the occasion. I was surprised when I saw Filch adding four extra chairs to the staff table, two on either side of Dumbledore's.

"But there are only two extra people," I said. "Why is Filch adding two more chairs? Who else is coming?"

"Huh?" Ron said vaguely. He was too busy staring at Krum to listen to anything that was being said.

When all the students from all the schools had entered the hall, and settled down in their House tables, the staff entered, walking up to the top table and taking their seats. Last in the line were Professors Dumbledore and Karkaroff, and Madame Maxime. When their headmistress appeared, the students leapt to their feet. A few Hogwarts students laughed. The Beauxbaton party seemed quite embarrassed, but still didn't sit back down until Madame Maxime sat down.

Dumbledore remained standing, and silence feel over the large hall.

"Good evening, ladies, gentlemen, ghosts and- most importantly- guests," Dumbledore said, beaming at all the foreign students. "I have a pleasure in welcoming you all to Hogwarts. I hope your stay here will be comfortable and enjoyable."

One of the Beauxbaton girls who was still clutching a muffler around her head gave what was unmistakably a derisive laugh.

"No ones making you stay!" Hermione whispered, glaring at her.

"The tournament will have officially begun at the end of the feast," Dumbledore went on. "I now invite you to eat, drink, and make yourselves at home!

He sat down, and I saw Karkaroff lean forward at once to engage Dumbledore in conversation.

The plates in front of us filled with food as usual. The house-elves in the kitchen really went to town with all the food. There was a greater variety of dishes in front of us than I have ever seen, including loads that were definitely foreign.

"What is that?" Fang asked, pointing at a large dish of some sort of shellfish stew that was beside a large steak-and-kidney pudding.

"Bouillabaisse," Hermione said.

"Bless you," Iggy said without even looking up from his own dinner.

"It's French," Hermione said. "I had it on my holidays the summer before last. It's very nice."

"I'm not taking your word for it," Fang said, wrinkling his nose as he looked at the weird stew.

The Great Hall seemed somehow much more crowded then usual, even though there were hardly twenty extra students. Perhaps it was because their differently colored uniforms stood out so much against the usual black of the Hogwarts uniforms. Now that they had removed their furs, the Durmstrang students were revealed to be wearing robes of deep blood red.

Hagrid slid into the Hall through a side door behind the staff table twenty minutes after the feast had started. He slipped into his seat at the end of the table and waved to the six of us with a heavily bandaged hand.

"Skrewts going alright, Hagrid?" Harry called.

"Thrivin'" Hagrid called back.

"Brilliant," I said quietly. "Looks like they've finally found out what food they like. Look at Hagrid's fingers."

At that moment, a voice asked, "Excuse me, are you wanting ze bouillabaisse?"

It was the girl from Beauxbatons who had laughed during Dumbledore's speech. She had finally removed the muffler from around her head. A long sheet of silvery-blonde hair feel almost to her waist. She had large, deep blue eyes and very white teeth. She was really pretty, and the boys seemed to think so too.

Ron went deep purple, and Iggy's face went slightly pink. Fang's expression didn't change, but I could see in his eyes that he thought this girl was gorgeous. Harry's expression didn't really change that much. It looked like he knew she was really pretty, but he didn't like her.

Ron was staring at the girl, his mouth opened to reply, but nothing came out but a slight gurgling noise.

"Yeah, take it," I said, pushing the dish towards her and smiling a big friendly smile at her, but there wasn't really anything behind it.

"You 'ave finished wiz it?"

"Yeah," Ron said breathlessly, "Yeah. It was excellent."

The girl smiled, and picked up the dish and carried it with her back to the Ravenclaw table. Ron was still goggling at her as if he couldn't believe she was real. Fang and Iggy seemed to have gotten over themselves, but Ron's face was still the same color as a beetroot. We started laughing at Ron's expression, and the sound seemed to jog Ron back into his senses.

"She's a veela!" he whispered hoarsely to us.

"Of course she ins't!" Hermione said tartly, "I don't see anyone else gaping at her like an idiot!"

But she wasn't really right when she said that. As the girl crossed the Hall, many boys turned around to stare at her, and many seemed to have become speechless like Ron. I giggled to myself when I saw Ginny, sitting only a few seats away from us, smach one of her male friends who she was just talking to because he started ignoring her and staring at the girl. Ginny really did have a red-heads temper.

"I'm telling you, she isn't a normal girl!" Ron said, leaning sideways to get a clear look at her. "They don't make them like that at Hogwarts!" I glared at Ron for his sexist remark, but I decided to let it go because he was just so stupid.

"They make them okay at Hogwarts," Harry said, and I saw him staring at the Ravenclaw table. I looked over my shoulder at where he was looking, and saw him looking a Cho, a fifth year girl with long black, straight hair. I felt myself blush, and didn't look Harry in the eye for the rest of the feast.

"When you've both put your eyes back in," Hermione said, her eyes flickering to me, "Then you'll see whos just arrived."

She was pointing up at the staff table. The two remaining seats had just been filled. Ludo Bagman was now sitting on Professor Karkaroff's other side and Mr Crouch, Percy's boss, was next to Madame Maxime.

"What are they doing here?" Harry asked in surprise.

"They organized the Triwizard Tournament, didn't they?" Iggy said. "I suppose they want to be here for the start."

When the second course appeared, we noticed some unusual desserts too. Ron examined an odd sort of pale blancmange closely, then moved it carefully a few inches to his right, so that it would be clearly visible from the Ravenclaw table. The girl who appeared to be a veela seemed to have eaten enough and didn't come to get any more.

Once the golden plates had been wiped clean, Dumbledore stood up again. A pleasant sort of tension seemed to fill the Hall now. I felt a slight thrill of excitement, wondering what was coming. Several seats down from us, Fred and George were leaning forward, staring at Dumbledore with great concentration.

"The moment has come," Dumbledore said, smiling around at all the faces. "The Triwizard Tournament is about to start. I would like to say a few words of explanation before we bring out the casket-"

"The what?" Harry muttered.

We all shrugged.

"- just to clarify the procedure that we will be following this year. But first, let me introduce, for those that don't know, Mr Bartemius Crouch, Head of the Department of International Magical Cooperation-" there was a smattering of polite applause- "and Mr Ludo Bagman, Head of the Department of Magical Games and Sports."

There was a much louder round of applause for Bagman than for Crouch, perhaps because of his fame as a Beater, or maybe because he looked so much more likable. He acknowledged it with a jolly wave of his hand. Crouch didn't smile or wave when Dumbledore said his name. Remembering him in his neat suit for the World Cup, it was strange to see him in wizards robes. His toothbrush mustache and severe parting was very strange next to Dumbledore's long white beard and hair.

"Mr Bagman and Mr Crouch have worked tirelessly over the last few months on the arrangements for the Triwizard Tournament," Dumbledore continued, "and they will be joining myself, Professor Karkoraff, and Madame Maxime on the panel that will judge the champions efforts."

At the mention of the word `champions,' the attentiveness of the students seemed to sharpen. Perhaps Dumbledore had noticed everyones sudden stillness because he smiled and said, "The casket, then, if you please, Mr Filch."

Filch, who had been lurking unnoticed in a far corner of the Hall, approached Dumbledore carrying a great wooden chest encrusted with jewels. It looked extremely old.

A murmur of excited interest rose from the watching students.

"The instructions the champions have to face have already been examined by Mr Crouch and Mr Bagman," said Dumbledore as Filch left the chest carefully on the table before them, "and they have made the necessary arrangements for each challenge. There will be three tasks, spaced through the school year, and they will test the champions in many different ways; their magical powers- their daring- their powers of deduction- and, of course, their ability of cope with danger."

At the last word, the Hall was filled with a silence so absolute that no one seemed to be breathing.

"Piece of cake," I whispered and the others snickered.

"As you know, three champions are chosen to compete in the tournament," Dumbledore said calmly, "one from each of the participating schools. They will be marked on how well they perform each of the tasks and the champion with the highest total after the three tasks will win the Triwizard Cup. The champions will be chosen by an impartial selector: The Goblet of Fire."

Dumbledore took out his wand and tapped three times on the chest. The lid slowly creaked open. Dumbledore reached inside and pulled out a large, roughly hewn wooden cup. It would of been completely unremarkable if it hadn't been full to the brim with blue, dancing flames.

Dumbledore closed the casket and placed the goblet on top of it, where it was visible to everyone in the Hall.

"Anybody wishing to submit themselves in the Tournament must write their name and school clearly upon a slip of parchment and drop it into the Goblet," Dumbledore said. "Aspiring champions have twenty-four hours in which to put their names forward. Tomorrow night, Halloween, the goblet will return the names of the three it had judged most worthy to represent their schools. The goblet will be placed in the entrance hall tonight, where it will be freely accessible to all those wishing to complete.

"To ensure that no underage students submit their names in the goblet," said Dumbledore, "I will be drawing an Age Line around the Goblet of Fire once it has been placed in the entrance hall. Nobody under the age of seventeen will be able to cross the line.

"Finally, I wish to impress upon any of those wishing to enter that this Tournament is not to be taken lightly. Once a champion has been selected to compete, he or she is obliged to see the tournament through to the end. The placing of your name in the goblet constitutes a biding, magical contract. There can be no change of heart once your name comes out of that goblet. Please be very sure, therefore, that you are wholeheartedly prepared to play before you drop your name into the goblet. Now, I think its time for bed. Good night to you all."

"An Age Line!" Fred said, his eyes glinting as we made our way across the Hall to the doors into the entrance hall. "Well that should be fooled by an Aging Potion shouldn't it? And once your names in that goblet, you're laughing- it can hardly tell whether or not you're seventeen!"

I smirked to myself, knowing what an Aging Potion would do to them after reading about them in the library, but I didn't say anything. This should be finny.

"But I don't think anyone under seventeen would know enough to even stand a chance," Hermione said, "we just haven't learned enough."

"Speak for yourself," George said shortly. "You'll try and get in won't you, Harry? Max?"

"I don't think I'll enter," I said, trying to hide my smirk. "I've had enough danger for one lifetime."

"Where is he?" Ron said, who wasn't listening to a word we were saying, but looking around the crowd to see where Krum went. "Dumbledore didn't say where the Durmstrang people were sleeping, did he?"

But this query was answered almost instantly; we were level with the Slytherin table, and Karkaroff had just bustled up to his students.

"Back to the ship then," he was saying. "Viktor, how are you feeling? Did you eat enough? Should I sent for some mulled wine from the kitchens?"

I saw Krum shake his head as he pulled his furs back on. "Professor, I vood like some vine," said one of the other Durmstang students hopefully.

"I wasn't offering it to you, Poliakoff," snapped Karkaroff, his warmly parental air vanishing immediately. "I notice you have dribbled food all down the front of your robes again, you disgusting boy-"

Karkaroff turned and led his students towards the doors, reaching them at the exact same moment as me, Harry, Ron, Fang, Iggy, and Hermione. Harry, who was in the front, stopped to let them go out first.

"Thank you," Karkaroff said, only glancing at Harry. Then Karkaroff froze. He turned his head back to look at Harry and stared at him as if he couldn't believe his eyes.

Behind their headmaster, the students of Durmstrang stopped walking too. Karkaroff's cold eyes slowly moved up Harry's face and fixed on his lightening scar. The Durmstrang students were staring curiously at Harry too. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw comprehension dawn on a few of their faces. The boy who had food all over his front nudged the girl beside him and pointed openly at Harry's forehead.

"Yes, that's Harry Potter," said a growling voice from behind them.

Karkaroff spun around. Mad-Eye Moody was standing there, leaning heavily on his staff, his magical eye glaring unblinkingly at Karkaroff.

The color drained from Karkaroff's face as I watched. A terrible look of mingled fury and fear came over him.

"You!" he said, staring at Moody as though unsure whether or not he was really there.

"Me," Moody said grimly. "And unless you've got anything to say to Potter, Karkaroff, then I suggest moving on. You're blocking the door."

It was true; half the students in the Hall were now waiting behind us, looking around to see what was causing the holdup.

Without another word, Karkaroff swept his students away with him. Moody watched him walk away until he was out of sigh, his magical eye fixed on his back, a look of intense dislike on his mutilated face.

As the next day was Saturday, most students would normally have breakfast late, which was what I usually love doing, but Iggy had the brilliant idea of getting up early to watch people putting their names into the Goblet of Fire. Git.

We were not alone is getting up much earlier than usual on weekends. When we went down to the entrance hall, we saw that there were about twenty people milling around it, some eating toast, all examining the Goblet of Fire. It had been placed in the center of the hall on the stool that usually holds the Sorting Hat. A thin golden line had been traced on the floor, forming a circle ten feet around it in every direction.

"Have anyone put their names in yet?" I asked a third-year girl.

"All the Durmstrang lot," she replied, "But I haven't seen anyone from Hogwarts."

"Bet some of them put it in last night after everyone was gone to bed," Harry said, "That's what I wouldn't done. Wouldn't want everyone watching. What if the goblet just gobbed you right out again?"

Someone laughed behind us. We turned to see Fred, George, and Lee hurrying down the staircase, the three of them looking very excited.

"Done it," Fred said, beaming. "Just taken it."

"What?" Ron asked.

"The Aging Potion, dung brain," George said.

"One drop each," Fred explained, rubbing his hands together with glee, "we only need to be a few months older."

"We're going to split the thousand Galleons between the three of us if one of us wins," Lee said, grinning broadly.

"I'm not sure this is going to work," Hermione said warningly, "I'm sure Dumbledore will have thought of this."

"Yeah, I really think this won't work," I said, trying my best not to laugh.

Fred, George and Lee ignored us.

"Ready?" Fred said to the other two, shaking with excitement. "C'mon then- I'll go first."

I watched in amusement as Fred pulled out a slip of parchment bearing the words Fred Weasley- Hogwarts. Fred walked right up to the edge of the line and stood there, rocking on his toes like a diver preparing for a fifty-foot drop. Then, with the eyes of every person in the entrance hall upon him, he took a great breath and stepped over the line.

My eyes widened when nothing happened after a few seconds. Did it actually work? George certainly thought that it worked, for he let out a yell of triumph and leapt after Fred- but next moment, there was a loud sizzling sound, and both twins were hurled out of the golden circle. They landed painfully, ten feet away on the cold stone floor, and to make it all even better, there was a loud popping noise, and both of them had sprouted identical, long, white beards.

The entrance hall rang with laughter, and I was laughing so much I couldn't breath. Even Fred and George started laughing, once they had gotten to their feet and taken a good look at each others beards.

"I did warn you," said a deep, amused voice and everyone turned to see Dumbledore coming out of the Great Hall. He surveyed Fred and George, his blue eyes twinkling. "I suggest you both go to Madam Pomfrey. She is already tending to Miss Fawcett of Ravenclaw and Mr Summers of Hufflepuff, both of whom decided to age themselves up a little too. Though, I must say, none of their beards is anything like as fine as yours."

Fred and George set off for the hospital wing, accompanied by Lee who was still howling with laughter, and the six of us, still chuckling, went into the Great Hall for breakfast.

The decoration in the Great Hall had changed this morning. As it was Halloween, a cloud of live bats was fluttering around the enchanted ceiling, while hundreds of carved pumpkins leered in every corner. Harry led the way over to Seamus and Dean, who were discussing the different Hogwarts students rumored to have put their names in the goblet.

"There's a rumor going around that Warrington got up early this morning and put his name in," Dean said as we sat down. "You know, the big bloke in Slytherin that looks like a sloth."

I played Quidditch against Warrington before, and me and Harry looked over at the Slytherin table in disgust.

"We can't have a Slytherin champion!"

"And all the Hufflepuffs are talking about Diggory," Seamus said. "But I wouldn't have thought he'd have wanted to risk his good looks."

"Listen!" said Hermione suddenly.

People were cheering out in the entrance hall. We all swiveled around in our seats and saw Angelina Johnson, coming into the Great Hall, grinning in an embarrassed sort of way. A tall black girl who also played Chaser on the Gryffindor Quidditch team, Angelina came over and sat beside us and said, "Well, I've just done it! Just put my name in!"

"You're kidding!" Ron said, looking impressed.

"Are you seventeen, then?" Harry asked.

"Of course she is, do you see a beard?" I said, raising my eyebrows.

"It was my birthday last week," Angelina explained, grinning.

"Well, I'm glad someone from Gryffindor is entering," Hermione said, "I really hope you get it, Angelina!"

"Thanks Hermione," Angelina smiled.

"Yeah, better you than Pretty-Boy Diggory," Seamus said, causing several of the Hufflepuffs passing our table to stop and glare at him.

"What're we going to do today, then?" Iggy asked the rest of us as we left the Great Hall.

"We haven't been down to visit Hagrid yet," Harry said.

"Okay," Fang said. "Just as long as he doesn't ask us to donate a few fingers to the Skrewts."

A look of great excitement suddenly broke out on Hermione's face.

"I've just realized- I haven't asked Hagrid to join S.P.E.W yet!" Hermione said brightly. "Wait for me, will you, while I run up and get the badges?"

"What is it with her?" Ron said, exasperated, as Hermione raced up the stairs.

"Hey Ron," I said, snickering, "it's your friend."

The students from Beauxbatons were coming through the front door from the grounds, among them, the veela girl. Those who were standing around the Goblet of Fire stood back to let them pass, watching eagerly.

Madame Maxime entered the hall after the students and ordered them into a straight line. One by one, the Beauxbatons students stepped across the Age Line and dropped their slips of parchment into the blue flames. As each name entered the fire, it turned bright red and emitted sparks, before returning to the usual blue.

"What'd you reckon'll happen to the ones that aren't picked?" Ron muttered as the veela girl dropped her parchment into the goblet. "Reckon they'll go back to school or hang around here to watch it?"

"Hang around here I suppose... I mean, Madame Maxime is a judge, isn't she?"

When all the Beauxbatons students had submitted their names, Madame Maxime led them back out through the door and into the grounds.

"Where are they sleeping then?" Ron asked, moving towards the door and staring after them.

A loud rattling noise behind us announced Hermione's arrival with the box of S.P.E.W badges.

"Oh, good hurry up," Ron said, jumping down the stone steps. Clearly, he was determined to find out where the Beauxbatons students were sleeping. God, that boy was messed up. Ron kept his eyes on the back of the veela girl, who was now halfway across the lawn with Madame Maxime.

"Whenever you're finished stalking, Ron, we have to go to Hagrid's," I said, causing the others to laugh and for the Ron to go deep red.

As we neared Hagrid's hut on the edge of the Forbidden Forest, the mystery of the Beauxbatons sleeping quaters was solved. The gigantic powder-blue carriage in which they had arrived had been parked two hundreds yards from Hagrid's front door, and the students were climbing back inside it. The huge horses that had pulled the carriage were now grazing in a makeshift paddock beside it.

Harry knocked on Hagrid's door, and Fang (Hagrid's dog- ironic, isn't it?) started barking instantly.

"Bout time!" Hagrid called as he flung the door open. "I thought you lot'd forgotten where I live!"

"We've been really busy Hag-" Hermione started to say, but then she stopped dead, looking up at Hagrid, lost for words.

He was wearing his best (and very horrible) hairy brown suit, plus a checked yellow and orange tie. This wasn't the worst of it (note to the wise: if you don't have a strong stomach, I'd recommend not reading the next sentence or two); he had evidently tried to brush his hair, using large quantities of what looked like axle grease. It was now slicked down into two bunches- perhaps he had tried to put it into a ponytail like Bill's, but found he had way too much hair. The look didn't suit Hagrid at all. For a moment, Hermione just goggled at him, then deciding not to comment on his appearance, she said, "Where are the Skrewts?"

"Out by the pumpkin patch," Hagrid said brightly. "They're gettin' massive, must be three foot long now. On'y trouble is, they've started killin' each other.

"Oh no, really?" I said, shooting a look at Iggy, who was starting to look a bit too hopeful, then to Ron, who was staring at Hagrid's hair, and his mouth open as if he was going to say something about it.

"Yeah," Hagrid said sadly. "S'okay though, I've got 'em in separate boxes now. Still have bout twenty."

"Well that's lucky," Iggy said. Hagrid missed the sarcasm.

Hagrid's hut comprised of a single room, in one corner of which was a gigantic bed covered in a patchwork quilt. A similarly enormous wooden table and chairs stood in front of the fire beneath a quantity of cured hams and dead birds hanging from the ceiling. We sat dwon at the table while Hagrid started making tea, and were soon immersed in yet more talk about the Triwizard Tournament. Hagrid seemed to be just as excited as we were.

"You wait," Hagrid smiled. "You jus' wait. Yer goin' ter see some stuff yeh've never seen before. Firs' task... ah but I'm not supposed ter say..."

"Go on, Hagrid!" we all urged him, but he just shook his head, grinning.

"I don' want ter spoil it fer yeh," said Hagrid. "But it's gonna be spectacular, I'll tell yeh that. Them champions're going ter have their work cut out. Never thought I'd live ter see the Triwizard Tournament played again!"

We ended up staying and eating lunch with Hagrid, though we didn't eat much- Hagrid said he had made a beef casserole, but we all lost our appetites after Hermione found a large talon in hers. However, we all enjoyed ourselves trying to worm the first task out of Hagrid, speculating who the champions were going to be, and wondering whether Fred and George were beardless yet.

A light rain had started hitting off the windows around mid-afternoon; it was very cozy sitting by the fire, listening to the gentle patter of the drops on the window, watching Hagrid arguing with Hermione about house-elves- for he had flatly refused to join S.P.E.W when she showed him the badges.

"It'd be doin' 'em an unkindness, Hermione," he said gravely, threading a massive needle with a thick yellow yarn through his socks. "It's in their nature ter look after humans, that's what they like, see? Yeh'd be makin' 'em unhappy ter take away their work, an' insultin' 'em if yeh tried ter pay 'em."

"But Harry set Dobby free, and he's over the moon about it!" said Hermione. "We heard he's asking for wages now!"

"Yeah well, yeh got weirdo's in every breed. I'm not sayin' there isn't the odd elf who'd take freedom, but yeh'll never persuade most of 'em- no, nothin' doin' Hermione."

Hermione looked very cross, and stuffed her box of badges back into her cloak pocket.

By half past five, it was getting dark, and Ron and Hermione decided it was time to get back to the castle for the Halloween feast- and, more importantly, the announcement of the Triwizard champions.

"I'll come with yeh," Hagrid said, "Jus' give us a sec."

Hagrid got up, walked across to his chest of drawers and began searching for something inside it. We didn't really pay that much attention until a horrible smell reached our nostrils. Coughing, I asked, "Hagrid- what the hell is that?"

"Eh?" Hagrid turned around, the bottle still in his hand "Don' yeh like it?"

"Is that aftershave?" Hermione asked in a slightly chocked voice.

"Er- eau de cologne," Hagrid muttered. He was blushing.

"Maybe it's a bit too much," he mumbled gruffly, "I'll go take it off, hang on..."

He stumped out of the cabin, and we saw him washing himself vigorously in the water barrel outside the water.

"Eau de cologne?" Hermione said in amazement. "Hagrid?"

"And what's with the hair and suit?" Harry asked in an undertone.

"Look!" Iggy said suddenly, pointing out the window. Hagrid had just straightened up and turned around. If he had been blushing before, it was nothing compared to now. Getting to our feet cautiously, so Hagrid wouldn't see us, the six of us peered through the window and saw Madame Maxime and the Beauxbatons students had just emerged from their carriage, setting out for the feast too. We couldn't hear what Hagrid was saying, but he was talking to Maxime with a rapt, misty-eyed expression I had only seen him wear once before- when he looking at the baby dragon, Norbert.

"He's going up to the castle with her!" Fang said indignantly. "I thought he was waiting for us!"

Without so much as a backward glance at the cabin, Hagrid was trudging up towards the castle with Madame Maxime, the Beauxbatons students following in their wake.

"He fancies her!" I said, my eyes wide. "Well, any kids they have would set a record- bet any baby of theirs would weigh a ton!"

We let ourselves out of Hagrid's cabin and shut the door behind us. It was surprisingly dark outside. Drawing our cloaks more closely around us, and we set off up the sloping lawn.

"Ooh, it's them, look!" Hermione said.

The Durmstrang party was walking up toward the castle from the lake. Viktor Krum was walking side by side with Karkaroff, and the other students were straggling along behind them. I noticed Hermione blushing slightly as she looked at Krum, and every few seconds, her eyes would flicker over to him. Ron was watching Krum excitedly, but Krum didn't look around as he reached the front doors a little ahead of the six of us.

When we reached the candlelit Great Hall, we found that it was almost full. The Goblet of Fire had been moved; it was now standing in front of Dumbledore's empty chair at the teachers table. Fred and George- beardless again- seemed to have taken their disappointment very well.

"Hope it's Angelina," said Fred as the six of us sat down.

"So do I!" Hermione said breathlessly, her face still red. "Well, we'll see soon."

Nudge and Ginny came up and sat with us, looking very excited. "This is awesome!" Nudge kept saying.

The Halloween feast seemed to take much longer than usual. Perhaps because it our second feast in two days, I didn't seem to like the extravagantly prepared food as much as I would normally. Like everyone else in the Hall, judging by the constantly craning necks, the impatient expressions on everyone's faces, the fidgeting, and the standing up to see whether Dumbledore had finished eating yet, I simply wanted the plates to clear, and to hear who had been selected as champions.

At long last, the golden plates returned to their usual spotless state; there was a sharp upswing in the level of noise within the Hall, which died away almost instantly as Dumbledore got to his feet. On either side of him, Professor Karkaroff and Madame Maxime looked as expectant as anyone. Ludo Bagman was beaming and winking at various students. Mr Crouch, however, looked quite uninterested, almost bored.

"Well, the goblet is almost ready to make it's decision," said Dumbledore. "I estimate that it requires one more minute. Now, when the champions names are called, I would ask them please to come up to the top of the Hall, walk along the staff table, and go into the next chamber-" he indicated to the door behind the staff table- "where they will be receiving their first instructions."

He took out his wand and gave a great, sweeping wave with it; at once, all the candles except those inside the carved pumpkins were extinguished, plunging them into a state of semidarkness. The Goblet of Fire now shone more brightly than anything in the whole Hall, the sparkling bright, bluey-whiteness of the flames almost painful on the eyes.

Everyone was still, watching, waiting... A few people kept checking their watches.

"Any second," Lee whispered, three seats away from me.

The flames inside the goblet suddenly turned red. Sparks began flying from it. I looked at Nudge and grinned at her. She beamed back, her eyes wide.

Next moment, a tongue of flame shot into the air, a charred piece of parchment fluttered out of it- the whole room gasped.

Dumbledore caught the parchment and held it at arms length, so that he could read it better from the flames of the goblet, which had turned back to blue.

"The champion for Durmstrang," Dumbledore said in a clear, strong voice, "will be Viktor Krum!"

"No surprises there!" Ron yelled as a storm of applause and cheering swept through the Hall.

I saw Krum rising from the Slytherin table and slouch up to Dumbledore; he turned right, walked along the staff table and disappeared through the door into the next chamber.

"Bravo, Viktor!" boomed Karkoraff, so loudly that everyone could hear him, even over all the applause. "Knew you had it in you!"

That clapping and chatting died down. Now everyone's attention was focused again on the goblet, which, seconds later, turned red again. A second piece of parchment shot out of it, propelled by the flames.

"The champion for Beauxbatons," Dumbledore said, "is Fleur Delacour!"

"It's her Ron!" Harry shouted as the girl who so resembled a veela got gracefully to her feet, shook back her sheet of silvery hair, and swept up between the Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff tables.

"Oh, look, they're all disappointed," I giggled, looking over at the other Beauxbatons girls that hadn't been picked. True, disappointed was a bit of an understatement. Two of the girls who hadn't gotten picked had burst into tears and were sobbing with their heads in their hands.

When Fleur Delacour too had disappeared into the side chamber, silence fell again, but this silence was so stiff with excitement you could of tasted. The Hogwarts champion was next...

The Goblet of Fire turned red once more; sparks showered out of it; the tongue of flames shot high into the air and from it's tip, Dumbledore pulled the third piece of parchment.

"The Hogwarts champion," Dumbledore said, and I held my breath, "is Cedric Diggory!"

"No," Ron groaned loudly, but no one heard him but me and Harry, who were sitting beside him; the uproar from the next table was too great. Every single Hufflepuff had jumped to his or her feet, screaming and stamping, as Cedric made his way past us, grinning broadly, and headed off toward the chamber behind the teachers table. Indeed, the applause for Cedric went on for so long that it was some time before Dumbledore could make himself heard again.

"Excellent!" Dumbledore beamed happily as at last, the noise died down. "Well, we finally have our three champions. I am sure I can count upon all of you, including the remaining students from Durmstrang and Beauxbatons, to give the champions every ounce of support you can muster. By cheering your champion on, you will contribute in a very real-"

But Dumbledore suddenly stopped talking, and it was apparent to everyone what distracted him.

The Goblet of Fire had just turned red again. Sparks were flying out. A long flame shot suddenly into the air, and borne upon it was another piece of parchment.

Automatically, Dumbledore reached out a long hand and seized the parchment. He held it out and stared at the name written on it. There was along pause, during which Dumbledore stared at the slip in his hands, and everyone in the room stared at Dumbledore. And then Dumbledore cleared his throat and read out- "Harry Potter."

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><p><em><strong>Dun Dun Dun!<strong>_

_**And here you have it! The 3- er, I mean 4- champions! Hope everyone enjoyed reading the chapter!**_

_**How is summer holidays going for everyone? And if you're not on your holidays, then how excited are you to finish? :D**_

_**As you all know by now, when you review, you get cookies and butterbeer! So... **_

_**REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW! **_

_**LoVe YoU! :***_

_**-Rach ;)**_


	14. The Four Champions

**AUTHORS NOTE :P**

**Hello! How is everyone? **

**I'll answer some reviews now... **

**almp15: You have to wait and find out I'm afraid... **

**AnikaandAj; You'll find out in this chapter :)**

**Anju Makaa: I did think about making her a champion, but I then I thought of the plot that's happening at the end, so I hope what will happen will be better :)**

**Annie Bell: I always do that when I read things, then I have to reread the sentence, like, a hundred times! And you'll find out how Max is in this chapter :P**

**Pyro and Darnet co: You'll find out who she goes with soon :) and thanks :D**

**Now here's the next chapter! Enjoy!**

**-Rach ;)**

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><p><strong><em>Max's POV<em>**

Every head in the Hall swiveled to look at Harry. He was frozen, his eyes wide. This was clearly a surprise for him. But who would put Harry's name in the Goblet of Fire?

There was no applause, merely the sound of buzzing as if thousands of bees had suddenly swarmed into the Hall. Some students actually stood up to get a better look at Harry, who was still sitting beside me, frozen. I reached over and took his hand in mine, and squeezed. He squeezed back, but didn't look at me.

Up at the top table, McGonagall had gotten to her feet and swept over to Dumbledore and whispered urgently in his ear, and he bent hsi ear forward, frowning.

Harry turned to look at us at last, and all of Gryffindor were staring at him, openmouthed.

"I didn't put my name in," Harry said blankly, as if he was in shock, "You know I didn't."

The rest of them didn't say anything, they just stared at him blankly. "I know you didn't, Harry," I said, giving his hand another squeeze. He smiled at me, but he still seemed to be in shock. He was squeezing my hand tighter and tighter, as if it was the only thing keeping him here in the Hall.

At the top table, Dumbledore had straightened up, nodding to Professor McGonagall.

"Harry Potter!" he called again. "Harry, up here, please."

"Go on," I said, giving Harry a slight push.

He seemed slightly lost as he got to his feet, stumbled over the hem of his robes and walked slowly between the Gryffindor and Hufflepuff tables. There were hundreds of eyes upon him, as though each were a searchlight. The buzzing was growing louder and louder. Soon, he was right in front of Dumbledore, and all the teachers were staring at him.

"Well...through the door, Harry," Dumbledore said. He wasn't smiling.

Harry moved off along the teachers table. Hagrid was sitting at the end of the table, and as I watched, I saw that he didn't wink and wave , or any of the usual stuff. He was staring at Harry in complete astonishment, as was everyone else in the Hall.

Harry finally walked through the door and out of the Great Hall.

There was silence after he left, but as soon as the door closed behind him, Professor Moody, Professor McGonagall, Professor Snape, Professor Karkaroff and Madame Maxime all crowded around Dumbledore, and the two of them looked outraged. Mr Crouch and Mr Bagman stood beside them, then after a few more seconds, Bagman walked in through the door, probably to tell the other three champions what just happened. It was about another minute before the teachers, and Mr Crouch, walked in through the door.

As soon as the teachers were out of sight, everyone started talking at once. Mostly it was the Slytherins, all giving out about Harry being chosen as champion.

"How can Potter get picked for champion? He's not even seventeen yet!"

"He's a cheater!"

"How did he get picked?"

"I thought he was nice!"

"Hey!" I shouted, standing up, seeing as the rest of the teachers that were in the Hall were talking among themselves and not noticing what was happening. "Harry never put his name in that cup! So shut it!"

"Oh yeah?" a Ravenclaw boy said, "Then how did his name come out?"

"Someone else clearly put his name in the goblet, genius," I said, glaring at the boy.

"And why would someone want to do that?" he asked. The whole Hall had gone quiet, except for the whispering of the teachers, and everyone was watching me and the boy.

"I dunno... Maybe because he's Harry Potter? The Boy Who Lived? He's gone some enemies, you know. Or else someone did it as a joke," I said hotly.

"Well, were you with Potter every single second since the goblet was put in the entrance hall?" another boy asked, this time a Slytherin.

"Of course I wasn't," I snapped.

"Then how do you know he didn't sneak down here last night and put his name in it?" he retorted. Across from me, I saw Ron raise his head, eyes wide, then he lowered his head again, looking mad.

"Because I know Harry, and he wouldn't do it," I said, sending daggers to anyone that looked like they wanted to say something else about Harry.

"Oh, yeah, as Potter's girlfriend, you must know him so well," came a familiar, drawling voice. Malfoy.

I blushed a deep red, and let me tell you, I was really glad it was so dark in the Hall. "I am not Harry's girlfriend," I growled.

"May as well be," Pansy Parkinson said, laughing to herself as if she thought what she said was actually funny.

"No one asked you to say anything, Parkinson," Ethan said from the Ravenclaw table. I grinned at him, silently thanking him. "Yeah, well no one asked you either, !" Pansy said. Ethan looked uncomfortable, as if only realizing now that everyone was looking at him.

"Yeah, well at least people don't want to bash their heads against walls when I talk," he said after taking a deep breath. I laughed, along with half the Great Hall, mostly Gryffindors and Ravenclaws.

Pansy huffed, then looked away.

"Right, so Harry didn't put his name into the Goblet of Fire. And that's that," I said, glaring at everyone again, then sitting down. Hermione smiled at me, and I grinned. I never really thought I would do that, but I had to do something before everyone started hated Harry for something he never did.

"Okay, everyone! Time for bed!" Professor Flitwick shouted, as if only remembering that we were all still there.

Everyone climbed to their feet and headed for the large double doors. I kept looking over my shoulder at the door where Harry and the other champions had gone through, but it showed no sign of opening any time soon.

Everyone was talking loudly about what had just happened before the four houses separated, the Slytherins heading towards the dungeons, the Hufflepuffs going off through a door to the right of the marble staircase, talking about the party they were going to throw Cedirc, and then the Gryffindors (also talking about throwing a party) and Ravenclaws climbed up the staircase, but we split up on the first floor.

I noticed that Fang and Iggy were looking confused and annoyed, but they weren't like Ron. He looked furious about something. Hermione seemed to noticed too.

"What's wrong, Ron?" she asked.

"Nothing," he growled.

"Something is bothering you," Ginny said, walking beside her brother.

"Nothing is bothering me," he snapped.

"Riiiight," I said. Ron glared at me and started walking faster so that he wasn't walking with us. "What's with him?" Nudge asked.

"It's Harry," Iggy said, not sounding very happy himself.

"What about Harry?" Hermione asked.

"He's a champion," Fang said.

"Really? Well I'll be darned, I never realized!" I said, rolling my eyes. "What about Harry being champion?"

"Well, you'd think he'd tell us if he was going to put his name in the goblet," Iggy said.

"What? Harry didn't put his name in the goblet!" I said.

"Well, how do you know that?" Fang asked.

"I'm not answering this again. If you want to believe that Harry put his name in the goblet, then go ahead. I really don't care anymore, but Harry will care when he finds out his best friends think he did it," I said, staring Fang and Iggy in the eyes. They didn't say anything, they just walked ahead and walked with Ron.

"Boys," Nudge said, rolling her eyes and crossing her arms.

When we finally got back to Gryffindor Tower, Fred and George were organizing the whole party; they had banners up, and they had Butterbeer and sweets. There was even music playing from the corners.

I saw Lee walking the common room with a Gryffindor banner, and he was telling everyone that would listen that he was going to wrap it around Harry when he came in.

I didn't the boys anywhere in the common room, and after a few minutes of standing around and watching the portrait hole, Ginny and Nudge went to bed, then Hermione went up, saying something about reading more about the Tournament. I stayed in the common room, wanting to talk to Harry, and after another twenty minutes, the portrait hole opened, and Harry walked in.

Everyone started screaming and cheering when they saw Harry, and he was wrenched into the common room by a dozen pairs on hands, and he stood there, facing Gryffindor House, everyone was screaming, applauding, whistling. Harry didn't smile once, not even when loads of people were hugging him, clapping him on the back, or congratulating him.

"You shouldn't told us you'd entered!" I heard George shouting.

"How did you do it without growing a beard? Bloody brilliant!" Fred roared.

"I didn't," I heard Harry say, "I don't know how-"

But then Angelina swooped down onto Harry. "Oh, if it couldn't be me, I'm glad it was a Gryffindor!"

"You'll be able to pay back Diggory for that last Quidditch match, Harry!" shrieked Katie Bell, the other Gryffindor Chaser.

"We've got food, Harry, come have some-"

"I'm not hungry, I had enough at the feast-"

But no one cared what Harry wanted. No one was listening when Harry said he didn't put his name in the goblet; not one single person would hear that he wasn't hungry, or in the mood to celebrate. True to his word, Lee threw the Gryffindor banner around him and tried it in a knot at Harry's chest. I watched as Harry was desperately trying to get away, but he couldn't. If he ever got close to the stairs to the dormitories, then the crowd there would close around him, forcing another butterbeer into his hands, or stuffing sweets and crisps into his hands. Everyone was asking how he did it, how had he tricked Dumbledore's Age Line, and manage to get his name into the goblet.

"I didn't," I could hear him say over and over again, "I don't know how it happened..." But for all the notice people took of what he was saying, he could of just kept his mouth shut.

He still hadn't seem me, but I was the only one that wasn't crowding around him.

"I'm tired!" Harry suddenly bellowed, after nearly half an hour. "I'm going to bed- no, seriously George, I'm going to bed!"

The people around him spread out so that Harry had some space, and he looked around the common room. When he spotted me, his eyes widened with relief, but he also looked nervous about something. He started walking over to me, and I got up and met him half way.

"Hey," I said.

"Hi," he mumbled.

"So what happened? Did you find out what you have to do?" I asked.

He looked up at me, surprised. "What?" he asked.

I frowned, confused. "What?" I asked.

"You're not going to ask me how I got picked? Or how I put my name into the goblet?" Harry asked, frowning.

"No, because I know you didn't put your name in the goblet. But I don't know how you got picked," I said. Harry smiled, clearly relieved that I didn't suspect him. "Thanks. You seem to be the only person that believes me," he said.

"No, I'm pretty sure Hermione does. And Nudge and Ginny...But Ron, Fang and Iggy were acting a bit strange, but I'm sure it's nothing to worry about," I added when Harry looked frustrated.

"Did they tell you anything about the first task?" I asked.

"They didn't tell us what we were going to have to do, but it's on November the twenty-fourth. We aren't able to ask any help from anyone," Harry said.

"Well, that's alright. It doesn't matter what they throw at you, you can handle anything," I said, grinning at him.

"Thanks, Maxie. I think I'm going to go to bed before they all start asking me questions again. Goodnight, Max," Harry said.

"Night, Harry. Everything will be fine, I promise," I said, smiling at him. Harry smiled at me again, then ran up the stairs, the Gryffindor banner flying behind him.

Before the people in the common room could come up to me and ask me what Harry had been saying, I quickly went up the stairs to my dormitory. When I walked into the room, Hermione was the only other person in the room. She was sitting on her bed, reading a large book. She didn't look up when I walked in, and I didn't say anything to her.

I grabbed my pajamas and went into the bathroom on the other side of the room. I had a quick, hot shower. In the shower, I let out every thought and emotion that I had been holding in since Harry's name had been called. I felt terrified for him. He was entering a tournament where people have died before.

I never thought Dumbledore would let him actually compete in the tournament, but then I thought of what Dumbledore said last night: _Once a champion has been selected to compete, he or she is obliged to see the tournament through to the end. The placing of your name in the goblet constitutes a biding, magical contract. There can be no change of heart once your name comes out of that goblet._

I moaned in frustration, somehow wishing that something could happen where Harry wouldn't have to compete. He has done plenty of dangerous things before this, but these tasks could be much worse then the things we did before.

I climbed out of the shower and quickly dried myself, and pulled on my pajamas. Hermione was still reading when I went into the dormitory, and she never looked up when I walked in. I pulled back my blankets and lay in bed, still worrying about Harry.

* * *

><p><strong><em>Harry's POV<em> **

After talking to Max, I raced up the stairs as fast as I could, just in case I was ambushed again. I was really looking forward to sitting in bed, talking to Ron, Fang and Iggy about what had just happened, then joking for hours, which is what we do most nights, but when I entered my dormitory, that wasn't what happened.

Ron, Fang and Iggy were still awake and lying in their beds, still fully clothed. They weren't talking to each other. The three of them looked up when I slammed the door, but neither of them spoke.

"Where've you been?" I asked.

"Oh, hello," Ron said, grinning in an odd, strained sort of way.

I suddenly became aware that that I still had the Gryffindor banner wrapped around me. I hastened to take it off, but the knot was tied very tightly. Ron, Fang and Iggy watched without moving while I struggled to remove the banner.

"So," Ron said, when I had finally removed the banner and threw it into the corner. "Congratulations."

"What'd you mean congratulations?" I asked, staring at Ron. There was definitely something wrong with the way Ron was grinning: it was more like a grimace. Fang and Iggy just lay there, expressionless. Something they were very good at.

"Well...no one else managed to get across the Age Line," Ron said, "Not even Fred and George. What did you use, the Invisibility Cloak?"

"The Invisibility Cloak wouldn't have got me across the Age Line," I said slowly.

"Oh right," Ron said, "I thought you might've told us if you used the Cloak...because it would've covered all of us, wouldn't it? But you found another way, didn't you?"

Oh, this wasn't happening. "Listen," I said. "I didn't put my name in that goblet. Someone else did it."

Ron raised his eyebrows, while Fang and Iggy still remained expressionless. "What would they do that for?" Ron asked.

"I dunno," I said. I thought it would be a bit too melodramatic if I said "to kill me."

Ron's eyebrows rose so high that they were in danger of disappearing into his hair.

"It's okay you know," he said, "If you don't want everyone to know, I get it. But I don't know why you're bothering to lie. You didn't get in trouble, did you? That friend of the Fat Lady's, Violet, told everyone that Dumbledore was letting you enter. A thousand Galleons prize money. And you don't have to do the end-of-year tests either."

"I didn't put my name in that goblet!" I snapped, starting to feel very angry. Why did it seem like only Max believed me?

"Yeah okay," Ron said in the exact same tone as Cedric when I told him the same thing, "Only you said this morning that you would of put your name in last night, where no could see you... I'm not stupid, you know."

"You're doing a great impression of it now," I snapped.

"Yeah?" Ron said, but there was no trace of a grin, fake or not, on his face this time. "You want to go to bed, Harry. I expect you'll need to be up early tomorrow for a photo-call or something."

He wrenched his curtains shut around his bed. I looked at Fang and Iggy, who looked like they wanted to say something, but the two of them just shrugged and closed their curtains too, leaving me standing by the door, staring at the dark red velvet that hid my best friends, and some of the few people I thought would believe me and understand what had happened.

* * *

><p><em><strong>I'm sorry that this chapter is so short and bad, but the next chapter will be longer and better, I promise! <strong>_

_**Do you guys like Harry's nickname for Max? Maxie? If not, I'll stop him saying it :)**_

_**Anyway, you know the drill, review and you get cookies and butterbeer, so...**_

_**REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW!**_

_**LoVe YoU!**_

_**-Rach ;)**_


	15. Disastrous Potions

_**AUTHORS NOTE :P **_

_**Hey guys :) here's the next chapter!**_

_**Now I shall answer some reviews... **_

_**SevLoverKat: all shall be revealed ;)**_

_**Arkell26: I've read all the Max Ride books, like, 10 times and I cannot remember Max hating Maxie, or anyone else calling her Maxie, but I guess because it's Harry, she doesn't really mind. **_

_**AnikaandAj: Find out what? What did I lie about? I'm confused... But yeah, Fang and Iggy get back to the senses much faster than Ron, so nothing to worry about there. and thank you! **_

_**Annie Bell: In the first one, I said that Max was left handed when she was getting her wand, so Max is left handed, like me!**_

_**florafan199914: Well, Iggy and Fang were more upset that Harry never told them that he was going to enter, and they never really thought about the fact that he didn't put his name in, but after listening to Ron and Harry, they both realized that he didn't put his name in. Ron was just jealous, but they were upset he never told them. Sorry, I should of made that way more clear.**_

_**Now on with the chapter!**_

_**-Rach ;)**_

* * *

><p><em><strong>Max's POV<strong>_

When I woke up the next morning, it took me a few seconds to remember why I was feeling so worried and miserable. Then everything that happened last night came rushing back.

I sat up, rubbing my eyes, then got slowly out of bed and changed. At weekends, you were allowed to wear your own clothes, but you had to wear the school robes over them.

I looked over at Hermione's bed and saw that she was sitting in her bed, already dressed, waiting for me. "Hey Max, I'm sorry about last night. I should of at least talked to you when you came in, but-"

"Don't worry about it, Hermione. Let's just go to breakfast," I said. She smiled, and we walked down to the Great Hall together, and I was looking out for Harry, or any of the other boys, but I didn't see any of them in the common room, or on the way to the Great Hall.

When we walked into the Great Hall, everyone turned to look at us. When we walked quickly towards the Gryffindor table, people shouted at us, "Hey, where's Potter?"

"Is the cheater too scared to how his face?"

"I bet he's going to be too chicken to even do the tasks!"

Hermione grabbed my hand when I opened my mouth to shout back at them and said, "Ignore them, Max. There aren't worth it." She dragged me over to the Gryffindor table, where we saw Ron, Fang and Iggy sitting away from everyone else. Me and Hermione sat down beside them, but none of them said anything.

"Hi guys," I said, a bit more forcefully then I intended. The three of them stared at me, seemingly shocked at my attitude. "Hey Max," they said together, frowning.

"That's better," I said, piling toast onto my plate. "Have you guys seen Harry?"

Ron blushed, and looked away. Fang, however, said, "He was still asleep when we left. I suppose he'll be down soon." I noticed that both Fang and Iggy seemed to be in greater moods then last night, but Ron still seemed sour. After about ten minutes of sitting with them, and with Ron glaring at nothing in particular.

"What's your problem?" I asked, not being able to take it anymore.

"What?" he asked.

"What's your deal? You've been moody all morning, not to mention last night."

"That's none of your business," Ron spat. Immediately after saying, Ron looked guilty. After finishing my toast, and after seeing that Hermione had finished her eggs, I grabbed a napkin, a few slices of buttered toast, and said, "Hermione, let's go find Harry. I doubt he's going to want to have breakfast here." I glared at Ron before walking out of the Hall, who still looked sorry about what he said, but he still looked grumpy.

"Don't mind Ron, Max, he's just being difficult. He'll come around... I hope," Hermione said as we walked to Gryffindor tower. I huffed but didn't answer her.

"You're really worried about Harry, aren't you?" she asked.

"What was your fist clue?" I said.

"Oh, come on Max, he'll be fine. Harry's been through worse," Hermione said. "I know he has, but people have died in this tournament, Hermione, and he's up against people much more educated and stronger than him."

"Don't worry about him. Harry is braver and smarter then the rest of them, and you know that. Harry will be fine," Hermione smiled. I let out a breath and nodded. "Yeah, I know."

We reached the entrance to to the common room, and just as I opened my mouth to give the Fat Lady the password, the portrait hole opened, and we came face-to-face with Harry.

"Hello," Hermione said. She pointed to the stack of toast I was holding and said, "We brought you this. Want to go for a walk?"

"Great idea," Harry said, smiling gratefully.

We went downstairs, crossed the entrance hall quickly without looking into the Great Hall, and we were soon striding across the lawn towards the lake, where the Durmstrang boat was moored, reflected blackly in the water. It was a chilly morning and we kept moving, munching on toast, as Harry told me and Hermione exactly what happened last night and what was said. He seemed really relieved when Hermione accepted his story too.

"Well, I knew you never put your name in yourself," Hermione said. "The look on your face when Dumbledore said your name! But, the question is, who did put it in? Because I think Moody's right...I don't think any student could have done it... they'd never be able to fool the goblet, or get over Dumbledore's-"

"Have you seen Ron, Fang and Iggy?" Harry interrupted.

Hermione looked at me, and I said, "Erm...yeah, they were at breakfast," I said.

"Do they still think I entered myself?"

"Well, no, I don't think so...not really," Hermione said awkwardly.

"What's that supposed to mean `not really'?"

"Oh, Harry, isn't it obvious?" Hermione said, "Ron is jealous!"

"Jealous?" Harry said incredulously, "Jealous of what? He wants to make a prat of himself in front of the whole school, does he? And what about Fang and Iggy?"

"Well, they both seemed grand this morning, so I'm guessing Fang and Iggy got over themselves. They were probably just upset that you didn't tell them you entered the tournament- not that you did enter the tournament, but they thought you did. But they're fine now, I think."

Harry nodded, then asked again, "But what is Ron jealous about?"

"Look," Hermione said patiently, "it's always you who get's the attention, you know it is. I know it's not your fault," Hermione added quickly, seeing Harry open his mouth furiously. "I know you don't ask for it...but- well- you know, Ron has all those brothers to compete against at home, and you're his best friend, and you're really famous- he's always shunted away to one side whenever people see you, and he puts up with it, and he never mentions it, but I suppose this is just gone too far..."

"Great," Harry said bitterly, "Really great. Tell him for me that I'd gladly swap places with him any time he wants. Tell him from me he's welcome to my life. People gawking at your forehead everywhere I go..."

"We aren't telling him anything," I said. "Tell him yourself. It's the only way to sort this thing out."

"I'm not going to run around after him trying to make him grow up!" Harry said so loudly that several owls in a nearby tree took flight in alarm. "Maybe he'll believe that I'm not enjoying myself once I've nearly broken my neck or-"

"That isn't funny," I said sternly. "Not funny at all, so shut up." I hoped I didn't look too anxious.

"Harry, I've been thinking- you know what you have to do, don't you? Straight away, when we get back to the castle?"

"Yeah, give Ron a big kick up the-"

"Write to Sirius. You've got to tell him what's happened. He asked you to keep him posted on everything that's going on at Hogwarts...It's almost as if he expected something like this to happen. I brought some parchment and a quill with me-" I stared at Hermione, my eyes wide. Hermione knew what Sirius would do if he found out that that someone had entered Harry into the Triwizard Tournament.

"Come off it," Harry said, coming to the same conclusion as me, "He came back to the country just because my scar twinged. He'll probably come bursting into the castle if I tell him someone's entered my into the Triwizard Tournament."

"He'd want you to tell him," Hermione said. "He's going to find out soon anyway."

"How?"

"Harry, this isn't going to be kept quiet," Hermione said, very sternly. "This tournament's famous, and you're famous. I'll be really surprised if there isn't something in the Daily Prophet about you competing... You're already in half the books about You-Know-Who, you know... And Sirius would rather hear it from you then reading about it. And if you don't write to him, I'll get Max to do it."

"Hey, I never agreed to any of this!" I said. I still thought it would be better if no one wrote to Sirius.

"Fine, I'll write to him," Harry said, ignoring me and throwing his last piece of toast into the lake. The three of us stood and watched it floating on the water for a minute, before a large tentacle rose from the water and scooped in beneath the surface. Then we returned to the castle.

"Who's owl am I going to use?" Harry asked as we climbed the stairs. "Sirius said not to use Hedwig again."

"Ask Ron if you can use-"

"I'm not asking Ron for anything," Harry said flatly.

"Use Grenade. Iggy won't mind," I said. Iggy's owl Grenade was a light grey barn owl, so he wouldn't attract too much attention. We went up to the Owlery. Hermione gave Harry the parchment, quill, and a bottle of ink, then the two of us started walking around the owlery looking for Grenade while Harry sat down against a wall and wrote his letter.

"Grenade," I said when I found him and I stretched out my arm. He gave a happy, cheerful hoot then flew down and landed on my arm. A few minutes later, Harry said, "Finished." I went over to him with Grenade on my shoulder and read the letter.

_Dear Sirius,  
><em>_You told me to keep you posted on what's happening at Hogwarts, so here goes - I don't know if you've heard, but the Triwizard Tournament's happening this year and on Saturday night I got picked as a fourth champion. I don't who put my name in the Goblet of Fire, because I didn't. The other Hogwarts champion is Cedric Diggory, from Hufflepuff.  
>Hope you're okay, and Buckbeak,<br>- Harry_

When I handed the letter back to Harry, Hedwig flew down onto his shoulder and held out her leg. "I can't use you," Harry said sadly, "I'm going to have to use Grenade."

Hedwig gave a very loud hoot and took off very fast and hard from Harry's shoulder. He winced slightly. I looked up at Hedwig as Harry tied the letter onto Grenade's leg, who was still on my shoulder. She kept her back to Harry the whole time.

When I threw Grenade out of the window, I watched out of the corner of my eye as Harry reached out to stroke Hedwig, but she clicked her beak furiously and soared up into the rafters out of reach.

"First Ron, now you," Harry said angrily, "This isn't my fault!"

For some reason I believed that things would improve, especially for Harry, but the next day showed me how mistaken I was. Harry couldn't avoid the rest of the school once we were back in lessons- and it was very obvious that the rest of the school, like the Gryffindors, believed that Harry had entered himself. Unlike the Gryffindors, however, the rest of the school wasn't as impressed.

The Hufflepuffs, who usually got along so well with Gryffindors, had turned cold toward a lot of us. Only one Herbology lesson was enough to make that obvious. It was clear that the Hufflepuffs thought Harry had stolen their champions glory; a feeling fueled by the fact that Hufflepuff House barely ever got any glory to start with. It was always Slytherin and Gryffindor, and sometimes Ravenclaw. Cedric was the only one who had ever given them any bit of glory, having already beaten Gryffindor at Quidditch. Ernie Macmillian and Justin Finch-Fletchley, who we normally get on very well with, completely ignored me and Harry when the four of us were repotting Bouncing Bulbs at the same tray- although they did laugh when one of the Bouncing Bulbs managed to slip through Harry's hands and smack him in the face. Ron wasn't talking to Harry either. The rest of us sat between them, making forced conversation. While they both answered normally, they never looked each other in the eyes. I noticed even Professor Sprout seemed a bit distant from us- but she was Head of Hufflepuff House.

On normal circumstances, I would of been looking forward to seeing Hagrid, but Care of Magical Creatures class also meant that the Slytherins would be there too. I could see it in Harry's face that he was dreading this too.

Predictably, Malfoy arrived at Hagrid's cabin with his familiar sneer on his pale face.

"Ah, look boys, it's the champion," he said to Crabbe and Goyle the moment they got in earshot of Harry. "Got your autograph books ready? Better get a signature now, because I doubt he'll be around much longer... Half the Triwizard champions have died." I ducked my head, making it look like I was trying to get something in my bag, so no one could see my cringe.

"How long d'you reckon you're going to last, Potter? Ten minutes into the first task is my bet," Malfoy said.

Crabbe and Goyle guffawed, but Malfoy had to stop there, because Hagrid emerged from the back of his cabin, balancing a teetering tower of crates, each one containing a very large Blast-Ended Skrewt. To the classes horror, Hagrid proceeded to explain why the Skrewts had been killing each other was because of pent-up energy, and the solution would be for each student to fix a leash on a skrewt and take it for a short walk. The only good thing about this was that it distracted Malfoy completely.

"Take those things for a walk?" he repeated in disgust, staring at one of the boxes. "And where exactly are we meant to put the leash? Around the blasting end, or the sucker?"

"Round the middle," Hagrid answered, demonstrating. "Er- yeh might want ter put on yer dragon-hide gloves, jus' as an extra precaution. Harry- you come here an' help me with this big one..."

As Harry walked over to Hagrid (and it was obvious that Hagrid had only called on Harry so that they could talk about him becoming champion) the rest of the class busied themselves trying to get a leash around a skrewt. I got the leash around mine easily enough, but when I started walking it, I had trouble not falling over. The skrewts were now over three feet long, and extremely powerful. They were not longer shell-less and colorless, they had developed a thick, grey shiny armor. They looked like a cross between giant scorpions and elongated crabs- but they still didn't have any recognizable heads or eyes. They were very strong and hard to control.

I got my first shock when, with an alarming bang, the skrewt's end exploded and it shoot forward several feet. I screamed in surprise when I was thrown down onto my stomach and dragged along after the skrewt. I stood up on shaky legs when the skrewt finally stopped, and I tried to steady my heart. There was mud and grass stained into my jumper, and my knees were scratched and bleeding slightly.

I looked around me and saw that the others were having the same problem. I looked down at the skrewt, not sure if I was looking at it's face or ass. "I really hate you, you know that right?"

For the rest of the class, every now and then the skrewts' ends exploded and we were thrown onto our stomachs again and again and were dragged for several feet. My uniform was completely destroyed at the end of class, and my knees were bleeding pretty badly.

Before the end of class, my the skrewt I was walking exploded again and I was dragged further away from the rest of my classmates and closer to the Forbidden Forest. I stood up when the skrewt stopped, trying to ignore the pain in my knees. I crouched down and wiped away some of the blood from my legs, and when I straightened up again, I was facing the Forest. Then I froze.

Standing in the trees, staring at me, was an Eraser and a whitecoat. I looked around me, looking for Fang and Iggy, but thankfully they were both back with Harry and Hagrid, out of sight, and Nudge was in the castle in Charms.

I looked back at the Forest, and the Eraser and whitecoat were still there. They hadn't moved, but after a few more seconds, the whitecoat reached into his pocket. I held my breath, prepared to see him pulling out a gun, but instead the whitecoat pulled out a syringe. I clenched my hands, my nails digging into my palms. As I watched, the whitecoat winked at me, then himself and the Eraser walked further into the trees, then slowly they faded out of sight.

I stayed, frozen, in that one spot for a minute, before I felt like I could actually move again. I ran back to Hagrid's cabin, holding onto the leash. The class had just finished, and I was the last person to get back to the cabin. "Ah, Max. What kept yeh?" Hagrid asked when I put the skrewt back into it's box.

"Er- the leash feel off the skrewt and I had to put it back on," I said. Hagrid nodded, cheerful about how the class went, not really paying any attention to how all the students (except for Harry, who didn't do anything for that class) were covered in dirt and bleeding.

When we were walking back to the castle for lunch, Fang asked, "Max, what really happened? When you came back, you looked like you saw a ghost."

I looked around us making sure no one was around, then I said, "There was an Eraser and a whitecoat in the Forbidden Forest."

Harry, Hermione, Fang, Iggy and Ron stared at me. "What?" Iggy asked, his blue eyes wide with concern and worry.

"They were in the Forest," I said, unable to look any of them in the eye.

"Did they do anything to do? Say anything?" Harry asked.

I shook my head. "Nope. The whitecoat took out a syringe, winked at me, then they both left," I muttered.

"Where did they go?" Fang asked, looking even more serious then usual.

"Back into the Forest," I said.

"What are we going to do? We can't just leave them in the Forest. What if there are more of them?" Hermione asked. I knew what she was thinking. She didn't want us taken back to the School, and believe me, I don't want to go back there either.

"We do nothing. It's what they want. They want us going after them, because they have more Eraser's back there, probably some new type of dangerous hybrids, and without the full flock, we most likely don't stand a chance against all of them. They're too coward to come up here, so we just have to stay clear of the Forest," I said, going straight into leader mode.

"And that is why Max is the leader," Iggy said, grinning, although there was still a hint of worry in his eyes. "Well, Max is the leader of the flock, and Harry is the leader of the rest of us, but together they're unstoppable leaders!" We all looked at Iggy, our eyebrows raised, and he shrugged. "What? It's true."

The next few days had to be the worst for Harry. The only time I remember him being treated this way was in second year, when he was being blamed for attacking all the Muggle-borns, even though it was me. But I suppose, back then, Harry did have Ron as a friend, but now Ron won't even say a word to him. Harry started to become very distant with all the dislike and hatred he was getting from all sides.

I could understand the Hufflepuffs' attitude, even if I wanted to punch all of them right in the face; they had their own champion to support. I expected nothing less from the Slytherins- Harry had always been unpopular there, having beaten Slytherin so many times in Quidditch and in the Inter-House Championship.

But I was surprised about the Ravenclaws. I was hoping that they would at least try to support Harry as much as Cedric, but most Ravenclaws seemed to believed that Harry was trying to earn himself more fame by tricking the goblet into spitting out his name. Ethan seemed to be the only one I knew that was actually being nice to Harry, for which I was really grateful.

I had to admit, Cedric did seem to look more like a champion than Harry. Exceptionally handsome (not that Harry wasn't very good looking too), with his dark hair and grey eyes, it was hard to see who was getting more attention these days- Cedric or Viktor. One day, when me and Harry were walking back from the Great Hall after dinner, we actually saw the same sixth-year girls who had been so keen to get Krum's autograph begging Cedric to sign their schoolbags.

Meanwhile, there was no reply from Sirius, Hedwig was still avoiding Harry, Professor Trelawney was predicting his death more and more (not really something he, or I, has no listen to) and Harry did so badly at Summoning Charms in that Professor Flitwick gave him extra homework- and he was the only person to get any, except for Neville.

"It's really not that complicated, Harry," Hermione said after Charms class. Easy for her to say because she's been making things zoom across the classroom all lesson, as if she was a magnet. "You just weren't concentrating properly."

"Wonder why that was," Harry said darkly as Cedric walked past, surrounded by a large group of simpering girls, all of whom looked at Harry as if he was a particularly nasty and large Blast-Ended Skrewt. "Still-never mind, eh? Double Potions to look forward to this afternoon..."

Double Potions was always a terrible experience, but it strangely seemed to be even worse these days. Being trapped in a dungeon for an hour and a half with Snape and all the Slytherins, all of whom seemed determined to punish Harry as much as possible for becoming school champion, and not only was it terrible for Harry, but it was terrible on the rest of us too because we had to go through it as well. Hermione sat beside me and Harry for most classes whispering every few seconds, "ignore them, ignore them, ignore them, ignore them, ignore them, ignore them..." under her breath, because we were both very close to throwing things at the Slytherins, and I couldn't see how today would be any different.

When me, Harry and Hermione arrived at Snape's dungeon after lunch, we found the Slytherins already waiting outside, and every one of them were wearing a large badge on the front of their robes. For a wild moment, I thought they were S.P.E.W badges- then I saw that they all had the same message, in luminous red letters that seemed to burn brightly in the dimly lit corridor.

**SUPPORT CEDRIC DIGGORY- THE REAL HOGWARTS CHAMPION! **

"Like them, Potter?" Malfoy said loudly as we walked closer. "And this isn't all they do- look!"

He pressed the badge into his chest, and the message on it vanished, and was replaced a second later by another one, that glowed green.

**POTTER STINKS! **

The Slytherins howled with laughter. Each of them pressed their badges too, until **POTTER STINKS! **was shining brightly around in the dungeon. I looked at Harry and saw his face and neck go red.

"Oh, you're all freaking hilarious," I said sarcastically to the Slytherins. "Really witty. I think I'll wet myself, I'm laughing so much."

I looked over at the other side of the dungeon, where Ron, Fang and Iggy were standing with Dean and Seamus. Although Fang and Iggy believed Harry didn't put his name in the goblet, they stopped hanging around with us as much, and stuck beside Ron. They weren't laughing, but they didn't do anything to defend Harry either.

"Want one Granger? Malfoy asked, holding a badge out to Hermione. "I've got loads. But don't touch my hand, now. I've just washed it, you see; don't want a Mudblood sliming it up."

I growled, and reached into my robes for my wand, but Harry got his before me. I still pulled mine out, and raised it, but not as high as Harry was holding his. People all around us scrambled out of the way, backing down the corridor.

"Harry! Max!" Hermione said warningly.

"Go on then," Malfoy said, staring us both in the eyes and pulling out his own wand, "Moddy isn't around to protect you now- do it, if you've got the guts-"

I looked over at Harry, wondering if he'd actually do something. I'd just rather throw my wand over my shoulder and kick Malfoy where it really hurt. Harry and Malfoy had locked eyes, and while I was watching, they both acted.

_"Funnunculas!" _Harry yelled.

_"Densaugeo!"_ Malfoy shouted.

Bright jets of light shot from both wands, hit each other in midair, and ricocheted off at angles- I watched as Harry's hit Goyle in the face, then I turned my head and saw Malfoy's spell flying straight for my face. I ducked low, feeling my hair moving on my head as the spell passed over me. I looked up, and saw that when I ducked, the spell had hit Hermione right in the face.

I looked around and saw Goyle bellow and put his hands to his nose, where great ugly boils had sprung up. Hermione was whimpering in panic, clutching her mouth.

"Hermione!"

Ron had hurried forward to see what was wrong with her, followed by Fang and Iggy, who stood beside me. "Are you alright?" Fang asked. I nodded. "Yeah I'm fine. Didn't hit me."

I turned and saw Ron dragging Hermione's hand away from her face. It wasn't a pretty sight.

Hermione's front teeth- already larger then average- were now growing at an alarming rate; she was looking more and more like a beaver as her teeth grew past her bottom lip, toward her chin- panic stricken, she felt them and let out a terrified cry.

I hurried up to her and grabbed her hands, so she wouldn't be feeling her teeth. "Don't worry about it Hermione. Madam Pomfrey can fix it up in a heartbeat, you know that. There's nothing to worry about, everything will be fine. Alright?" I said. Hermione stared at me, her eyes wide with panic, but she nodded. She pulled one of her hands out of mine to cover her teeth, which was now growing past her chin.

"And what is all the noise about?" said a deadly, soft voice.

Snape had arrived. The Slytherins clamored to give their explanations; Snape pointed a long yellow finger (ew) at Malfoy and said, "Explain."

"Potter attacked me, sir-"

"We attacked each other at the same time!" Harry shouted.

"- and he hit Goyle, sir, look-"

Snape examined Goyle, who had scrunched his face up in what was meant to look like pain, but it really only made him look constipated. His face now resembled something that would have been at home in a book on poisonous fungi.

"Hospital wing, Goyle," Snape said calmly.

"Malfoy got Hermione!" I said angrily, "Look!"

I forced Hermione to show Snape her teeth- she was doing her best to hide her teeth from view, but it was getting difficult now because her teeth had grown past her collar. Pansy Parkinson and the other Slytherin girls were doubled up with silent giggles, pointing at Hermione from behind Snape's back.

Snape looked coldly at Hermione. "I see no difference."

Hermione let out a whimper, her eyes filled with tears and she turned on her heel and ran all the way up to the corridor and out of sight. I turned around and glared at Snape, who glared right back at me, then I turned and sprinted as fast as I could after Hermione. As I was running, I could hear Harry, Ron, Fang and Iggy shouting at Snape.

I didn't know where I should be looking for Hermione, but I wasn't looking for too long before I found her crouched behind a suit of armor, sobbing with her head in her hands.

"Hermione, why didn't you go to the hospital wing?" I asked, sitting down beside her. She raised her head, wiping her tears from her face and shrugged, looking ashamed. Clearly, it was too awkward to talk with her teeth almost reaching her chest. i stood up and said, "Well, let's go there now, before your teeth reach your ass." I smiled at her to let her know I was joking. She grinned and stood up.

We walked to the hospital wing in silence, seeing as Hermione couldn't talk, and we walked as fast as we could. When we finally arrived at the hospital wing, we saw that it was empty except for Madam Pomfrey and Goyle, who was lying in a bed with his face covered in a sick green paste.

"Oh, Miss Ride, don't tell me that you're hurt once again," Madam Pomfrey said, looking up from where she was applying more of the paste to Goyle's face. "Not me this time, unfortunately Madam Pomfrey," I said, "Malfoy's spell hit Hermione when Harry's hit Goyle."

"Dear, dear, dear. Well, what else do you expect from frighting?" Madam Pomfrey said, coming up and looking at Hermione. She managed to get Hermione's hands away from her face, and she started examining her teeth. "I have just the thing, dear," she said, leading Hermione to a bed, well away from the one Goyle was in.

I sat down in the chair that was beside Hermione's bed. She was fingering her teeth gently, as if she was afraid they would break. She still looked panicky and upset, but at least she wasn't crying anymore. After another few minutes, Madam Pomfrey came back with a potion. She handed it to Hermione, who looked confused. She didn't know how she was meant to drink it. Madam Pomfrey took it back off Hermione, and with her help, Hermione was able to drink it.

"Your teeth won't actually start going back to their normal size until you drink it a few more times. I'll give you one every hour, and your teeth should be back to normal around dinner time," Madam Pomfrey said, and Hermione did her best to give Madam Pomfrey a grateful smile, but it turned out more like a grimace. "Thanks, Madam Pomfrey," I said. Madam Pomfrey nodded and walked back into her office.

It was a few hours later, and it was finally time for Madam Pomfrey to perform the spell to fix Hermione's teeth. "Here you go, so you can tell me when to stop," Madam Pomfrey said, handing Hermione a mirror. Hermione straightened in her bed and held the mirror in front of her face. The potion had already reduced the size of her teeth slightly, and stopped them from growing anymore, and now here teeth were just at her above her chin.

Madam Pomfrey waved her wand and whispered a series of complicated words, and right before my eyes Hermione's teeth started shrinking. It was slow, but finally her teeth were back to there slightly larger then usual size. But Hermione didn't tell Madam Pomfrey to stop. I stared at her, my eyebrow raised, and Hermione blushed and looked back at the mirror. When her front teeth were at a normal size, Hermione smiled and said, "That's perfect, Madam Pomfrey. Thank you."

"Not a problem, dear," Madam Pomfrey smiled. She pulled back the sleeve of her robes and looked at her watch. "Dinner is over. I can give you dinner here if you want, because you won't get food anywhere else this time. Then you can leave and go back to your common room."

We ate our dinner in the hospital wing, then walked back to Gryffindor tower.

"Why did you let Madam Pomfrey put your teeth smaller then they were?" I asked.

"Well because I hated my teeth before. I always had to wear that brace going to sleep... I've been trying to convince Mum and Dad to let me magic my teeth smaller, but they wanted me to do it the normal way, with the brace. I saw the opportunity and I took it. Do they look really weird now?" she said, and she smiled. Her smile was even more pretty then before.

"It doesn't look weird, Hermione. It looks great, but it also looked great before," I said.

"Thanks Max. For staying with me," Hermione said.

"Not a problem. I'm going to kick Malfoy all the way to next Thursday next time I see him," I said, scowling.

"Oh don't. There's no need to get into trouble over that ferret," Hermione said, and we both laughed.

We entered Gryffindor tower, and just before we went up the stairs to our dormitory, Harry came racing down the stairs from his own dormitory, a letter in his hands.

"Hey, Max, Hermione," he said, hurrying over to us. "I'm really sorry about what happened, Hermione."

"Oh, don't be," Hermione said, "It was Malfoy's fault, not yours." She smiled, probably hoping that he'd notice her teeth. Being a boy, he didn't.

"What's that?" I asked, pointing to the letter in his hands.

"Sirius finally wrote back," he said, handing us the letter.

_ Harry - I can't say everything I would like to in a letter, it's too risky in case the owl is intercepted - we need to talk face-to-face. Can you ensure that you and Max are alone by the fire in Gryffindor Tower at one o'clock in the morning on the 22nd of November?_

_ I know better than anyone that you can look after yourself, Harry, and while you're around Dumbledore and Moody I don't think anyone will be able to hurt you. However, someone seems to be having a good try. Entering you in that tournament would have been very risky, especially right under Dumbkdore's nose._

_And Max, I know you're annoyed I couldn't answer your question. But trust me, I will tell you. Just not now. And not on the 22nd of November, either. I'm sorry, but you will understand soon. Please don't do anything reckless sweetheart, and keep your eyes open. _

_ Be on the watch, Harry. I still want to hear about anything unusual. Let me know about the 22nd of November as quickly as you can._

_ -Sirius. _

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><p><em><strong>And there you have it! The next chapter! It is a lot longer then the last one, and hopefully a lot better :) <strong>_

_**I love the legend of korra now! Not as much as Avatar: The last Airbender, but it's still awesome! I love Bolin, but I think Korra and Mako are better for each other. Bolin just reminds me of Sokka so much! :) he's adorable. **_

_**Anyway, you know the drill. Review and you get cookies and butterbeer :) so...**_

_**REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW!**_

_**LoVe YoU! :***_

_**-Rach ;)**_


	16. The Hungarian Horntail

_**AUTHORS NOTE! :P**_

_**Hey :) so now here's the new chapter, and I hope everyone likes it. **_

_**Now I shall answer some reviews... **_

_**jdr ride: there will be some action in this chapter :)**_

_**pyro and darnet co: thanks :) i'll try and change the point of views a bit more **_

_**Courtney DiLaurentis: including this chapter, there is five chapters left until the yule ball. **_

_**and thanks to everyone else that reviewed, as always I appreciate them all :D**_

_**I will warn you in advance, this is a loooong chapter :D**_

_**Now, on with the chapter!**_

_**-Rach ;)**_

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><p><em><strong>Max's POV<strong>_

The next morning, Harry told me, Hermione and Nudge all about what happened in Potions yesterday when we left. Half way through the class, Colin Creevey came in and told Snape had Harry was wanted for photographs. Harry had to go upstairs with the other champions for the wand weighting ceremony, which was basically just checking that your wand had no problems and was fully functional. Then he had an interview with Rita Skeeter, a reporter for the Daily Prophet.

"How did the interview go?" I asked. Harry rolled his eyes. "Terrible. She was writing all these things that I never ever said, and asking me all about my parents. Dumbledore came in and got me away from her though."

After the interview, Harry said that they had a photo-shoot, then were allowed to leave. "Well, sounds like you had fun," I said, smiling at him. He groaned and said, "I never want to see Rita Skeeter again."

Over the next fortnight, the prospect of talking face-to-face with Sirius was the only thing that actually made me feel really happy. The same went for Harry. He seemed to have gotten over the shock of being a champion, but now he just seemed scared of what he was about to face. I was even feeling nervous for him. The first-task was drawing steadily nearer.

To be honest, I didn't know how Sirius was going to make Harry feel any better about having to perform an unknown piece of difficult and dangerous magic in front of hundreds of people, but the mere sight of a friendly face should be something comforting for Harry. After Harry showed us the letter, he wrote back to Sirius straight away saying that we would both be in the common room at one o'clock on the 22nd of November, and the three of us stayed up late coming up with an idea to get rid of any stragglers that were still in the common room at that time. If worst came to worst, we were going to drop a bag of Dungbombs but we were hoping we wouldn't have to do that- Filch would skin us alive.

Life for Harry, believe it or not, became worse because Rita Skeeter had published her piece on the Triwizard Tournament, and it turned out to be not so much a report on the tournament, but more of a highly colored life story of Harry.

Most of the front page had been taken up with a picture of Harry; the article (continuing on pages two, six and seven) had been all about Harry, the names of the Beauxbatons and Durmstrang champions (which had been misspelled) had been squashed into the last line of the article, and Cedric hadn't been mentioned at all.

The article had appeared ten days ago, and people were still laughing and making comments when they walked passed Harry in the corridors. Rita Skeeter had written a lot of things I knew Harry would never say in his life.

_I suppose I get my strength from my parents. I know they'd be very proud of me if they could see me now. . . . Yes, sometimes at night I still cry about them, I'm not ashamed to admit it. . . . I know nothing will hurt me during the tournament, because they're watching over me. . . _

Rita Skeeter had even interviewed people about Harry.

_ Harry has at last found love at Hogwarts. His close friend, Colin Creevey, says that Harry is rarely seen out of the company of one Maximum Ride, a stunningly pretty girl who, like Harry, is one of the top students in the school. _

When I read that line, I blushed furiously. Now, everyone asks me when Harry and I started dating, and some people even told me that we were really cute together. People actually believed it!

From the moment the article appeared, the both of us had to endure people- Slytherins mainly- quoting it at us as we passed and making snide comments. Harry had to endure much more then me, and I could see it was starting to take its toll on him.

"Want a tissue, Potter, in case you start crying in Transfiguration?"

"Since when have you been one of the top students at school? Or is this some secret school you and Longbottom had started together?"

"Hey- Harry!"

"Yeah, that's right," Harry shouted, turning around, having enough, "I've just been crying my eyes out about my dead mum, and I'm off to do a bit more."

"No- it was just- you dropped your quill."

It was Cho Chang. I looked at Harry to see him blushing furiously.

"Oh-right-sorry," Harry said, taking the quill from her.

"Er...good luck on Tuesday," she said, "I really hope you do well."

Harry groaned, looking very angry at himself.

I was getting my own fair share of unpleasantness too, but so far I hadn't started yelling at innocent people, but I had made some sassy remarks to Slytherins, which usually leaves them standing on their own, trying to figure out how I insulted them.

"Stunningly pretty? Her?" Pansy Parkinson shrieked the first time she had come face-to-face with me after reading the article. "What was she judging against- a squirrel?"

"Well, at least I don't look like a crossbreed of a pug and a cow," I had said, without even blinking. She pursed her lips, and I could actually see the gears in her head spinning as she tried to think of an insult.

However, whenever someone would shout a quote at Harry, he would clench his teeth. Hermione would whisper, "ignore it, ignore it Harry."

But it was clear that Harry wasn't able to ignore it. Ron hasn't spoken to him for weeks, and although Fang and Iggy were mainly hanging around with Ron, they still talked to us, but not as much as I would have liked. Nudge was getting very upset about the two of them, thinking that the flock was breaking up. When I said this to Fang and Iggy, the two of them just shrugged and told me to tell Nudge to stop worrying. But ever since Nudge said it, I couldn't help but think it too. What if our flock was breaking up, just because of this stupid tournament?

The four of them had gotten detention from Snape for shouting at him about Hermione, and I was really hoping that when they came back they would all be best friends again, as if nothing had happened, but the day of their detention was also the day that Rita Skeeters article came out, and that only made Ron believe more that Harry was really enjoying the attention.

Me and Hermione were absolutely furious with all of them, and we did all we could to get them to try and talk to each other again, with the occasional help from Nudge and Ginny. Harry said he would only talk to Ron if Ron admitted that he hadn't put his name in the goblet and apologized for calling him a liar. Ron just refused to talk to us, including his own sister.

"I didn't start this," Harry said stubbornly. "It's his problem."

"You miss him!" Hermione said impatiently. "And I know he misses you too!"

"Miss him?" Harry said, "I don't miss him."

But I could see in his eyes that he was lying. Without Ron, Fang and Iggy, there was much less laughs, and because of Hermione, we spent most of our time in the library. Harry still hadn't mastered Summoning Charms, and Hermione insisted that learning the theory would help him. We consequently spent a lot of time pouring over books during lunchtimes.

I noticed that Viktor Krum was in the library an awful lot too, and I was wondering what he was up to. He never seemed to be studying. But then one day, while we were sitting at the desks finishing Transfiguration homework, I noticed that he was staring at us from where he was standing at the shelves. I looked at him over the top of my book, so he wouldn't notice me, and realized I was wrong. He wasn't staring at _us. _He was staring at _Hermione. _

I grinned, knowing that Hermione thought Krum was good looking, even if she never said anything. She often complained about Krum always being in the library- not that he ever actually bothered us- but because wherever Krum went, he was followed by a group of giggling girls who often showed up to spy on him from behind bookshelves, and Hermione got distracted from the noise.

"He's not even that good-looking!" she snapped one day, glaring at Krum, but I could see the faint blush creeping up on her cheeks. "They only like him because he's famous! They wouldn't look twice at him if he couldn't do that WonkyFaint thing-"

"Wronski Feint," Harry said through gritted teeth. I could just imagine Ron's face if he heard Hermione talking about WonkyFaints.

On the Saturday before the first task, all students above third year were allowed to go to the village of Hogsmeade. Nudge, only being in second year, was upset that morning because she couldn't go. She cheered up a little when I told her I'd bring her back so much sweets from Honeydukes that she wouldn't have to eat again until she was twenty.

Me and Hermione told Harry that it would be good for him to get away from the castle for a while, and Harry didn't need much persuasion.

"What about Ron though?" Harry asked, more to Hermione than me. Hermione had been talking to Ron more then I have lately, and honestly, I didn't really want to talk to him until he apologized to Harry. "Don't you want to go with him?"

"Oh...well," Hermione blushed. "I thought we might be able to meet them in the Three Broomsticks."

"No," Harry said flatly.

"Oh, Harry, this is so stupid-"

"I'll come, but I'm not meeting Ron. And I'm wearing my Invisibility Cloak."

"Oh alright then," Hermione snapped. "I hate when you wear the cloak. I never know if I'm looking at you or not."

So Harry ran up to his dormitory to put on his cloak and Hermione and I waited in the common room for him. A few minutes later, I heard Harry whispering, "It's me. Let's go."

We set off for Hogsmeade, and I had to admit, it was very strange talking to Harry, seeing as we couldn't see actually see him. We watched other students as they entered the village, most of them sporting SUPPORT CEDRIC DIGGORY! badges, but there were no horrible remarks coming our way, and no one was quoting that stupid article.

When we walked passed the Forbidden Forest, I felt myself shiver, wondering whether the Erasers and whitecoats were still in there, and whether or not they were actually going to do something.

"Come on, Harry, just take the cloak off! No one's going to bother you here!" Hermione pleaded when we finally reached the village.

"Oh, yeah?" we heard Harry's voice ask. "Look behind you."

Me and Hermione turned around, and from what Harry told me about her, I knew that it was Rita Skeeter and her photographer emerging from the Three Broomsticks. I hated her instantly. Her blond hair was set in elaborate curls, and she was wearing heavily jeweled glasses studded with rhinestones. She had penciled-on eyebrows, and I saw when she was talking to the photographer that she had three gold teeth. She was carrying a crocodile-skin handbag that went horribly with her magenta colored robes.

Talking in low voices, the two of them passed by me and Hermione without even looking at us, which was a shame because I was giving Skeeter my death glare, which was enough to made a whitecoat run away from me once when I was eight. When they were gone, we heard Harry saying, "She's staying in the village. Probably coming to see the first-task."

As he said it, I felt my heart start beating faster with worry. We hadn't talked much about what could possibly be coming up in the first-task, because the three of us were too worried to talk about it, even if none of us said it.

"Why don't we have a Butterbeer in the Three Broomsticks, it's kinda cold, isn't it? We don't have to talk to Ron," I added when Harry never said anything. Hermione agreed, and the three of us walked into the Three Broomsticks.

It was packed inside, mostly with Hogwarts students, who were enjoying the free afternoon, but also with magical creatures I don't see much anywhere else. Seeing as Hogsmeade was the only all-wizard village in Britain, creatures like hags probably thought of the village as a haven, because they haven't adapting as well as wizards to fitting in in the Muggle world.

The pub was so packed that I had to walk slowly and carefully so I didn't bang into anyone, or fall over and go right into Harry, which would let everyone see him. Harry and I slowly edged over to a table in the far end of the pub while Hermione went to get the drinks. On my way through the pub I spotted Ron, Fang and Iggy sitting with Fred, George and Lee. Resisting the urge to say something to them, I just walked right passed them, making sure they saw me, but I didn't look back at them. We finally reached the table and sat down.

Hermione joined us a minute later and handed me my butterbeer, then she slipped Harry his under the cloak.

"We look like such idiots, just the two of us sitting here on our own. It looks like we're on a date," I said.

"Well, at least I brought something to do," Hermione said and pulled out the notebook in which she had been using to keep a record of all the S.P.E.W members. I saw all of our names at the top of the short list. It seemed such a long time ago that we had all sat together, making up the predictions.

"You know, maybe I should try and get some of the villagers involved in S.P.E.W," Hermione said thoughtfully, looking around the pub.

"Yeah, great," I said, only half listening.

"Hermione, when are you going to give up all this spew stuff?" Harry asked.

"When house-elves have decent wages and working conditions," she hissed back. "You know, I'm starting to think it's time for more direct actions. Do you know how to get into the school kitchens?" she asked, looking between me and invisible Harry.

"Nope. Ask Fred and George," I said.

Hermione lapsed into thoughtful silence, occasionally scribbling something into her notebook. I didn't know what Harry was doing. I drank my butterbeer, then looked around the pub. Everyone seemed relaxed and happy. What I wouldn't give to just be one of those people, relaxed and nothing to worry about.

Suddenly, I felt something touching my hand, which was left on the table, but when I looked up, there was no one there. I looked at my hand and saw that someone had put a small piece of parchment into my hand. I looked at Hermione, but she was still writing in her notebook, and I couldn't see what Harry was doing. I pulled open the note and read it.

_Meet me at the lake tonight at eleven. I want to talk to you. -Ethan. _

I looked around the pub and found Ethan sitting with all his friends, a full glass of butterbeer in front of him. He looked over at me and grinned. I hesitated, then nodded, smiling. He beamed, then turned back to his friends.

I looked back at Hermione, but she hadn't noticed anything.

"What was that about?" Harry asked.

"Huh?" I asked, still looking at the note in my hand. "What was that about with St. James?" he asked again.

"Oh, nothing. He just wants to meet me tonight," I said. Harry didn't say anything after that.

"We'll be speaking to Sir- er, Padfoot, in less then twelve hours," I said, just realizing it.

"Yeah, I know," Harry said, and I could hear the smile in his voice.

"Look, it's Hagrid!" Hermione said suddenly.

The back of Hagrid's enormous, messy head- he had thankfully stopped trying to brush his hair- emerge over the crowd. I wondered how I didn't spot Hagrid earlier, but looking carefully, I saw that he had been leaning low, talking to Professor Moody. Hagrid had his usual gigantic tankard in front of him, while Moody was drinking from his hip flask. Madam Rosmerta, the landlady, didn't seem to think much of this; she was shooting Moody glares as she cleared up glasses from the tables around him. Perhaps she thought it was an insult to her drinks, but everyone that was in Moody's class would know better. Moody had told us in our last Defense Against the Dark Arts class that he preferred to make his own food and drink at all times, because it was so easy for a Dark wizard to poison an unattended cup.

As I watched, I saw Hagrid and Moody get ready to leave. I didn't know whether I should wave, or smile or something. Moody, however, paused, his magical eye on our table in the corner, where Harry was sitting. He tapped Hagrid in the small of his back (unable to reach anywhere higher) muttered something to him, and then the pair of them made their way across the pub towards us.

"Alright Hermione, Max?" Hagrid asked loudly.

"Hey," I said.

Moody limped around the table and bent down, so it looked like he was reading the S.P.E.W list, but then he muttered. "Nice cloak, Potter." Moody grinned.

"Can your eye- I mean, can you-?"

"Yeah, it can see through Invisibility Cloaks," Moody said quietly. "And it's come in useful at times, let me tell you."

Hagrid was beaming down at where at Harry was sitting too. I knew Hagrid couldn't actually see Harry, but Moody had obviously told him where he was. Hagrid bent down, pretending to be reading the S.P.E.W notes too, then he whispered (the whisper was clearly only for Harry's ears, but people keep forgetting about my enhanced senses. Oops.) "Harry, meet me tonight at midnight at me cabin. Wear that cloak."

Straightening up, Hagrid said loudly, "Nice ter see yeh, Hermione, Max." He winked and departed, Moody following him.

"Why does Hagrid want to meet me tonight at midnight?" Harry asked, sounding surprised.

"I dunno. Why does Ethan want to me meet me tonight at eleven?" I asked, looking at the note again.

"Well, I don't know the answer to either of them," Hermione said. "But I wonder what Hagrid's up to. I don't know whether the two of us should go out tonight," she looked around her nervously and hissed, "It could make you late for Sirius."

"I'm gonna have plenty of time," I said. "Two hours. Why would Ethan want to stay talking for two hours? I'll be grand," I said, waving away the thought of being late.

"Well, you know that St. Jam- Ethan just wants to talk, which really shouldn't take that long. I have no idea what Hagrid wants," Harry said.

Hermione suggested for Harry to send Hedwig down to Hagrid with a note explaining that he couldn't come down that night- that is, if Hedwig was willing to go- but Harry decided that he would just go down and find out quick what Hagrid wanted him for.

At half ten that night, I asked Fred and George to distract everyone in the common room. With no questions asked, they both hopped up on a table and started shouting at everyone about Weasley's Wizard Wheezes. When no one was looking except Harry and Hermione, I nodded at them, then slipped out of the portrait hole.

"Where do you think you're going?" the Fat Lady shouted after me as I ran down the stairs. "It's passed curfew!"

I ignored her and walked quickly but quietly through the castle, keeping an eye out for Filch, Mrs Norris (his ugly cat) or any other teacher. I reached the entrance hall without seeing anyone, and fortunately the front doors were left unlocked. I slipped passed them quietly, then ran across the grounds to the lake. Ethan wasn't there yet, so I sat down on the grass of the bank and relaxed.

I looked around me, and noticed that there were drag marks on the ground, as if there had been a fight. That was when I noticed the blood.

I spun around. Something told me that that was Ethan's blood. The hair on the back of my neck prickled, and I got the strange feeling that something was watching me.

I sensed the Erasers before I saw them, but I wasn't quick enough. I feel into darkness.

* * *

><p><em><strong>Ethan's POV<strong>_** _(about half an hour earlier)_**

I was so excited to be meeting Max, just the two of us, that I left the castle at ten o'clock. I knew I was really early, but I wanted to practice what I was going to say to her. I was going to tell her how I felt about her, then I was going to kiss her. That much I knew. But how do I tell her how I feel?

I sat down on the bank of the lake, running my hands through my hair. I closed my eyes, and imagined her face, her eyes, her smile, the way her hair flew gracefully around her back when she walked...

I heard footsteps behind me so I sprang to my feet, prepared to see Max, but instead, there was no one there. I frowned, looking around at the trees and at the lake, but there was no sign of anyone. I sighed, shaking my head and sat down again. When I sat down, I was sure that I heard the sound of a branch breaking. I stood up again, my hand in my pocket, ready to get my wand, but I didn't see anything. Cursing, I sat down once again. It's probably just an animal, I told myself, a dog, or a cat or something.

For another few minutes, I just lay back in the grass, trying to think about what I would do once Max came. I had it just figured out when I heard more footsteps, it sounded like there were at least ten people. I raised my head slowly, wondering why there was that many people out this late. But when I spotted them, I felt my heart stop.

They were like werewolves, only they couldn't be werewolves. I've seen pictures of werewolves, and these things were not even close to how they looked. These _things _were walking around on two legs, and while they were covered in hair, and had razor-sharp claws and teeth, there was still something strangely- human, about them.

All of them advanced on me, grinning like they were all playing a brilliant game. I scrambled to my feet and backed away until I felt the water splashing against my runners. "What are you?" I asked, stuttering over my words. Oh, Merlin, I wished I was braver. Max would never stutter if she was facing this things. I don't even know why I had asked them a question. These were animals- they couldn't talk.

"We're your worst nightmare," one of them growled. I backed up more, surprised that they could talk, and that they all had thick, American accents. I kept backing up until I was ankle deep in the water. They all howled with laughter, the sound like nails being drawn down a chalkboard.

"So, you're waiting for the little birdie?" another one of them asked.

"Birdie? I don't know what you're talking about," I said, my voice sounding slightly more even.

"Are you, or are you not, waiting for one Maximum Ride," he asked, coming closer to me and grinning. He was so close that I could feel his hot breath on my face.

"Maybe I am, maybe I''m not. Why do you care? What do you want with her?" I said, hoping I sounded menacing, but seriously doubting it. "Oh, we've known the little birdie longer then you have, boy," another one of them said.

"Why do you keep calling her birdie?" I asked.

"She hasn't told you? She agrees to meeting up at the dead of night, but yet she hasn't told you her biggest secret? Tut tut, shame on her," one of the werewolves said.

"You don't know her. You're lying. Max wouldn't know things like you," I said, suddenly feeling braver then I felt.

"Well boy, she doesn't know us by choice," one grinned, and they all howled with laughter again.

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"Has she ever talked about her life before this little freak place?" the thing asked.

"No. I never asked. I know she's an orphan," I said.

"I do believe that next time you see the little birdie, you ask her about her past," the wolf-man said.

"I will," I said fiercely. They all chuckled.

"Maybe you'll never get the chance," one of them said, and he pounced on me. I cried in shock and surprise as I fell back into the water with the werewolf on top of me, growling. I screamed when I felt a sharp pain rip through my arm, and I looked down to see that the werewolf had clawed at my arm, and it was bleeding. I hated the sight of blood- especially my own. I felt weak. I let myself go limp, then the werewolf dragged me out of the water and threw me down onto the ground. My arm ached, and so did my chest because my heart was beating so fast.

"This boy is pathetic. I would of thought Maximum had better taste," I heard one of them say. "We'll bring him into the Forest. You five, stay around here, out of sight, and wait for Maximum. The rest of us will be back at the usual place with the boy."

I heard one of them coming over to me, then I felt arms around me. I struggled, but it didn't make a different. I was weak, and pathetic, just like they said. I wasn't even able to help my own baby sister when she needed me most. "Knock him out, will you? He won't stop struggling," I vaguely heard one of them growling.

The last thought I had before the thing holding me knocked me out was _Max, what have you done to know these things? And for the love of God, stay in the castle. Please. _

* * *

><p><em><strong>Max's POV<strong>_

I groaned, my head throbbing from where I had gotten hit with the huge, thick branch. I felt nauseous, so I kept my mouth closed so I wouldn't barf. I could feel something wet and hot trailing down the side of my face. I opened my eyes, taking in my surroundings. I was propped up against a tree in large clearing, lit up by a fire, with my hands and legs tied. I looked around, and froze when I saw all the Erasers. There must have been at lest thirty of them, but there were no whitecoats in sight. The Erasers had there backs to me, and didn't know that I was awake.

"Max?" I heard a familiar voice whispering. I looked to my right and chocked back a gasp.

"_Ethan? _What the hell are you doing here? How did they get to you? Are you alright?" I asked in a rush, but I wasn't loud enough for the Erasers to hear me.

"I was waiting for you, and they sneaked up on me. There wasn't anything I could do. I'm sorry," Ethan said.

"Don't be sorry, it's not your fault. They're here for me," I whispered. "If anyone's sorry, it's me."

"I don't blame you for this, Max. It's not like you called them here," he said.

I shuddered and said, "Trust me, I would never call them. I don't even know how they got into the grounds." I turned my head more so I could see Ethan properly, and that was when I noticed his arm. "Ethan- your arm-" I started, but Ethan cut me off. "Don't worry about it. It doesn't hurt that much anymore. What about your head?"

"It hurts, but not that bad," I said. "It's still bleeding, you know," he said. I nodded. "I know."

He seemed to hesitate, then he said, "Those wolf-things told me to ask you about your past. Is there something I should know?"

I didn't answer, I didn't know how to, but at that moment, the Erasers noticed that we were both awake. "Ah, the love birds are awake!" I blushed and said, "We're not love birds. Let us go."

"I don't think so. You see, the owners of the School were slightly annoyed when you and your little friends got away last summer," the lead Eraser said. "Well, we were hardly going to wait around now were we?"

"Maybe you should of stayed there, so that this wouldn't be happening right now. You're endangering one of your little freak friends. How does that make you feel?"

I knew what they doing, they do this all the time. Just trying to make me feel bad and guilty so I wouldn't have any fight left. But they had done this so many times that it didn't affect me anymore.

"I feel great, actually, thanks for asking," I said, smiling. "Although, I don't appreciate being tied up, so if someone could untie me, I'd be a lot more happier."

"We're not stupid, freak. We're not untying you."

"What? You're not stupid? Well, you had me convinced," I said, my face straight.

The Eraser growled. "You're going to stay here until our boss tells us where we have to bring you. And no one will find you, so there's no point in trying anything."

"Me? Try something? I wouldn't dream of it," I hissed through clenched teeth, a wave of dizziness overtaking me when I moved my head slightly.

The Eraser went right up to me and put his face right up to mine. "Glad to hear it, sweetheart," he said, and his breath smelled so bad that I started retching. He glared at me, thinking I was messing with him, trying to get him angry on purpose, but seriously _his breath smelled so bad! _

"Something wrong, birdie?" he asked, getting even closer to me.

"Ever heard of a tic tac?" I snapped, glaring back at him. He roared and raised his hand, and slapped me right across the face. I fell over onto my side with my arms in front of me, my cheek throbbing.

"Max!" Ethan shouted.

"Shut up," one of the Erasers shouted at him. Ethan kept quiet, but I could feel his eyes on me as the Eraser that slapped me reached down and twisted me over so that I was on my back, with my arms bent uncomfortably under my back. I hissed, feeling the rope that was around my wrists scraping off the skin of my hands. I stared into the Erasers cold eyes, and willed myself not to look away until he did.

"Leave her alone!" Ethan shouted.

"I told you to shut up!" said the Eraser that seemed to be second-in-command, then he kicked Ethan in the stomach. Ethan cried out and fell down, then he was right beside me. "Are you okay?" I asked. He nodded, unable to speak. His breathing was uneven and heavy, so I knew he was winded. "Take big, deep breaths, okay? Copy me," I told him, and I started taking deep breaths, and stopped when Ethan started copying me. After a few minutes, his breathing was back to normal. "Okay now?" I asked. "Yeah, thanks," he said,

"Sorry to break up the romance," the head Eraser said mockingly. "But the boss just contacted me. Time to go. We'll be leaving in ten minutes."

The Erasers walked over to where they had left all there things. As soon as they turned there backs on me, and raised myself on my elbows, and when I saw a thick branch, I dragged myself over to it, stopping every few seconds in case the Erasers heard me. I grabbed the branch awkwardly, and started sawing at the rope around my wrists. I could feel Ethan watching me, but I didn't look at him.

Finally, after minutes of sawing, the ropes broke free. I bit down on my lip when I saw my wrists, the skin red raw and bleeding.

Without a sound, I started undoing the ropes on my legs. The knot was tight, but the rope finally fell to the ground, my legs free. I moved soundlessly over to Ethan, and, looking over my shoulder every few seconds, started undoing Ethan's ropes.

When we were both free, I stood up. Another wave of dizziness overtook me, and I thought my legs were going to give way, but Ethan put a hand around my waist until I could stand up properly. I knew we weren't just going to walk out of this clearing, that there was going to be a fight, so I tried telling Ethan without actually talking to leave and go back to the castle. He seemed to know what I was trying to say, and he shook his head, his eyes determined.

"Hey! What the hell?" the Erasers started shouting.

"Max, come on!" Ethan shouted, grabbing my hand. He started to drag me towards the trees, but I jerked my hand out of his.

"This is my fight," I said simply and turned back to the Erasers and took a fighting stance, the one Jeb taught me when I was ten. "You're gonna fight all of us on your own, sweetheart?" Head-Eraser sneered. "Yes. And don't call me sweetheart," I growled, then sprang forward, with a snap kick right to his chest. He stumbled back, and I was immediately surrounded by Erasers. I kicked and punched at everything I could see, and blocking everything that was coming at me. I had most of them down when one of them sneaked up behind me and grabbed my arms. He pulled me down onto my knees, but before he could even do anything, he was blasted backwards into the trees. I looked across from me and saw Ethan with his wand out, looking stunned at what he did.

I smiled at him but never got to say anything before there were more Erasers surrounding the both of us. I did a roundhouse kick and managed to knock two Erasers into a tree, then punched one in the nose, feeling the bone break under my fist. I could hear Ethan shouting spells at Erasers behind me.

Soon enough there were only five Erasers left. I wish I could just take out my wand and take a rest from fighting, but I had left my wand on my bed back in Gryffindor Tower, thinking I wouldn't need it. Well, I'd never do that anymore.

I cried out in pain and surprise when I felt a sharp pain rip through my side. An Eraser had just clawed right through my shirt and cut up my side. It was bleeding, but not very badly. I wheeled around and kneed the Eraser right where any man should not be kicked. He screamed and bent over, and that was when I kneed him right in the head, knocking him out.

I looked around the clearing, and saw that Ethan was unscratched with a protection charm around him, and he just did a full body bind on an Eraser. Now there was only one left. He didn't seem like a typical Eraser, so that made me think he was new. He took one look at us, muttered, "I'm sorry. I never wanted them to do this to me."

"You think I wanted them to do this to me?" I asked, glaring at him.

He shook his head, turned around and ran off into the trees. I let out a breath and leaned against a tree, my hand on the wound at my side. Ethan came up to me, his face surprisingly pale. "Are you okay?" he asked.

"Yeah. You?" I asked.

"Yeah, they never hit me. You're hurt," he noticed.

"Eh, I'm fine, nothing to worry about. Let's get out of here before any of them wake up," I said. We walked through the trees, and it was only when we were walking for ten minutes that I realized how deep we were in the Forest. It was nearly an hour before we saw the light of the moon again.

"Max, I think we need to talk," Ethan said suddenly when we were at the edge of the Forest. He stopped walking, and sat down against a tree. I sat down beside him, knowing he was going to ask about the Erasers and the School.

"What about?" I asked, playing dumb.

"What the hell were those things?" he asked.

"Human-wolf hybrids," I said, looking down at my dirty converse.

"Hybrids? So they weren't werewolves?"

"Well, I suppose you can call them that if you want," I mumbled.

"How do they know you?" he asked.

"Because I'm a hybrid too," I said too quietly for him to hear.

"What?" he asked. I took a deep breath and looked him in the eyes. For some reason, telling Ethan about my past was more difficult then telling Hermione, Harry or Ron, or anyone else that knows. I broke the eye contact and focused on the little beetle was scuttling along the ground by my shoes.

"I know them because I'm a hybrid too," I said again, more clearly this time. Ethan heard me this time, and for a few minutes he just stared at me, speechless.

"You mean- you're one of those wolf things?" Ethan asked, his voice raising a few octaves. I chuckled darkly, and said, "No. I'm a different hybrid to them, but we were created in the same place."

"Created? What kind of hybrid are you?" he asked, sounding a bit freaked out.

"I'm an avian hybrid," I said.

"Avian?" he asked.

"Yeah, bird. I have- er, wings," I mumbled, still staring at the beetle, that had stopped scuttling and was still.

"Wings?" Ethan chocked. I nodded, not able to look at him. He didn't say anything for a while, and I put my head in my hands. I just completely ruined our friendship, and now he won't want anything to do with me, because I'm a freak-

"What do you mean created?" Ethan asked finally.

"Well, I was born normally like everyone else, but I was kidnapped only a few hours after I was born and taken to a lab in America called the School, where they did experiments on me and gave me wings," I explained. "We got busted out when I was ten."

"We?" Ethan asked.

"Er- yeah, there was six of us. Fang, Iggy, Nudge, Angel and the Gasman are all avian hybrids too, and together we're the flock," I said.

It was another few minutes before Ethan said, "That's so damn cool."

I looked up at him. "What?" I asked, stunned.

"You have wings! That's really cool!" he said.

"You don't care? You don't think I'm a freak?" I asked without even thinking.

Ethan grinned at me. "Of course not. I think you're even more amazing then before."

I smiled and rushed over to him and threw my arms around his neck. He hugged me back and said, "Tell me everything about the School. I want to know about your past."

We spent about another hour sitting by the trees, and I told Ethan everything up until I was ten. He listened to everything without interrupting me. I didn't tell him about Donovan- I couldn't find the proper words. When I finished, I look down at my watch. It was ten to one in the morning.

"Oh crap I'm going to be late!" I exclaimed.

"For what?"

"To talk to my dad," I said without really thinking.

"Your dad? I thought your parents were dead," he said.

"That's what I thought until last summer," I admitted. "My mother is dead, but my father isn't."

"Who's your dad?" he asked.

"I don't think you'll believe me," I said, grinning darkly. Ethan said, "Of course I'll believe you. I believed everything about the wings and stuff, didn't I?."

I sighed. "Sirius Black. Sirius is my dad." Ethan's eyes widened and said, "But- he's a murderer!"

"No he isn't," I said a bit more harsh then I intended. "He's innocent. He was framed for those murders and everything else the Ministry said he did."

Ethan seemed to hesitate before he said, "I believe you. That must of been awful," he added after a minute of silence, "Being locked up in Azkaban for twelve years, knowing you're innocent, but having no one believe you."

"I know. I'm sorry about what happened. I'm sorry that they hurt you" I said, standing up. That was when I noticed that the beetle was still on the ground. Maybe it had died. Oh well.

"It doesn't hurt that much anymore," Ethan said, moving his injured arm around as he stood up beside me. "And don't worry about it. I don't blame you. I'll walk back to the castle with you."

We walked back up to the castle, and I was fingering the cut on my head. It stopped bleeding, but it still stung, and my face and shirt were covered in dry blood. When we passed the lake, Ethan asked, "Can I- can I see them?" he asked. He sounded as if he had wanted to ask that question for a while.

"See what?" I asked, looking at him out of the corner of my eye.

"You're- you're wings," Ethan said, blushing. I looked around, and when I saw no one around, or no lights on in any of the many windows, I dragged Ethan over to behind the tree by the lake, just in case. I pulled off my jumper, and slowly, I spread out my wings. Ethan gasped and said, "They're beautiful." My face went deep red, and I could see Ethan blushing too. I pulled my wings back in tight to my back, then pulled on my jumper when I thought I heard something. I looked around but didn't see anything, so I dismissed the thought. "Thanks," I managed to say.

I blushed even worse when Ethan took a step closer to me, and his face was right in front of mine. He leaned down, his eyes asking if I wanted to him to continue. I nodded ever so slightly, then closed the space between us. Our lips met, and then we were kissing. Ethan's lips were soft and gentle. He hands went around my waist, pulling me closer to him, and I put my arms around his neck, my hands in his hair. Time seemed to freeze; not that I'm complaining.

I pulled away from Ethan when I heard that same noise again, like a clicking. But it seemed like as soon as we pulled away from each other, the noise stopped. I looked at Ethan, but he didn't seem to have heard it. That was when I realized what just happened.

"Ethan- I'm sorry. I shouldn't have done that. I'm not really looking for something like that, not with the Tournament, and with Harry in the Tournament, and then the Erasers-"

"Harry? That's what it's about? You don't like me. You like Harry, don't you?" Ethan said, not sounding angry, but not sounding happy either.

"What? No. I never said that. He's my friend, Ethan, and I'm worried about him being in this Tournament! If it was one of your friends, then you'd be worried too!" I said.

Ethan scoffed, and rolled his eyes. "You know what? Just forget that all of this happened, Max. I'll see you around." Then he turned around and walked back to the castle, leaving me on my own by the lake.

* * *

><p>I walked through the portrait hole, lost in my thoughts, and jumped when I saw Harry leaning down in front of the fire. And in the fire, was Sirius's head. With what just happened in the last few minutes, I had forgotten about our meeting with Sirius. Neither of them noticed me walked into the common room.<p>

I walked in just as Sirius was saying, "Don't mind me, how are you? And where's Max?"

"Er- I'm not really sure where she is. She was meeting a boy by the lake, and she should be back any minute," Harry said. I stood awkwardly by the door, suddenly aware of how dirty and bloody I was. I coughed, and Harry spun around and saw me.

"Max! Where have you been?" That was when he noticed all the blood and mud. "What _happened?" _he asked.

"I'll tell you later," I said through clenched teeth, not wanting Sirius to know that there were Erasers in the grounds, or else he'll come bursting through the school gates. I just hoped Sirius wouldn't notice the blood. I did my best to wipe away as much as I could as I walked over to the fire, then I covered most of my face with my hair.

"Hey Sirius," I said, smiling.

"Hi, Max. What kept you?" he asked.

"Nothing, the time just got away from me. Sorry," I said. "How have you been?" I asked. Sirius looked different from when I last saw him. When we had said good-bye, his face had been gaunt and sunken, surrounded by a quantity of long, black matted hair- but now his hair was short and clean, Sirius's face was fuller, and he looked younger.

"I've been alright," I said.

"What about you, Harry?" Sirius asked.

"I'm-" Harry started, then he paused, frowning. Then suddenly, Harry was talking more then I've heard him talk in days- about how no one believed him about no entering the tournament himself, how Rita Skeeter had lied in the article, how he couldn't walk anywhere without being sneered at- and about Ron, and his jealously.

"...and now Hagrid's just shown me what's coming up in the first task, and it's dragons, Sirius. I'm a goner," Harry finished desperately.

I stared at Harry, wide eyed. Dragons? Was the Ministry _freaking insane?_ Sirius was staring at the both of us with his eyes full of concern, eyes that still had the deadened, lost look that Azkaban had given him.

"Dragons we can deal with," he said and I stared at him in shock, "But we'll get to that in a minute- I haven't got long here... I've broken into a wizarding house to use the fire, but they could be back at any time. There are things I need to warn you about."

"Like what?" I asked. Surely there wasn't anything worse then dragons?

"Karkoraff," Sirius said. "He was a Death Eater. You know what Death Eaters are, right?" We both nodded.

"He was caught, he was in Azkaban with me, but he got released. I bet everything that's why Dumbledore wanted an Auror at Hogwarts this year- to keep an eye on him. Moody caught Karkaroff in the first place."

"Karkaroff got released?" Harry asked. "Why did they release him?"

"He did a deal with the Ministry," said Sirius bitterly. "He said he'd seen the error of his ways, then he named names...he put a load of people into Azkaban in his place. He's not very popular there, I can tell you. And since he got out, from what I can tell, he's been teaching the Dark Arts to every student in that school of his. So watch out for the Durmstrang champion too."

"Okay," Harry said slowly.

"So are you saying that Karkaroff put Harry's name into the goblet?" I asked.

"If he did, he's a really good actor. He seemed furious about me getting picked. He wanted to stop me from competing."

"We know he's a good actor," Sirius said, "because he convinced the Ministry to set him free. Now, I've been keeping an eye on the Daily Prophet-"

"You and the rest of the world," Harry said bitterly."

"-and reading between the lines of the articles. Moody was attacked before he started working at Hogwarts last month. Yes, I know Skeeter said it was a false alarm, but I don't think so, somehow. I think someone tried to stop him from coming to Hogwarts. I think someone knew their job would be a lot more difficult with him around. And no one's going to look into it too closely; Moody's heard intruders much too often. But that doesn't mean he doesn't know how to spot the real thing- Moody was the best Auror the Ministry's ever had."

Sirius hesitated.

"I've been hearing some very strange things," he said slowly. "The Death Eaters seem to be a bit more active than usual lately. They showed up at the World Cup, didn't they? Someone set off the Dark Mark... and you've heard about the witch that's gone missing?"

"Bertha Jorkins?" Harry and I said together.

"Yes. She disappeared in Albania, and that's definitely where Voldemort was last. And she would of known about the Triwizard Tournament, wouldn't she?"

"Yeah. But it's not likely she just walked right into Voldemort, is it?" I said.

"Listen, I knew Bertha," Sirius said. "She was at Hogwarts me and and you're dad, Harry, but she was just a few years older then me. She was an nosy, no brains. It's not a good combination. I'd say she'd be very easy to lure into a trap."

"So Voldemort could know about the tournament? You think Karkaroff could be here on his orders?" Harry asked.

"I don't know," Sirius said. "I just don't know. Karkaroff doesn't strike me as the type who'd go back to Voldemort unless he knew Voldemort was powerful enough to protect him. But whoever put your name in that goblet, Harry, did it for a reason, and I can't help thinking the tournament would be a very good way to attack you and make it look like an accident."

"Looks like a pretty good plan from where I'm standing," Harry said bleakly. "They'll just have to stand back and let the dragons do their work."

"Right- these dragons," Sirius said, speaking very fast, "There's a way. Don't be tempted to try a Stunning Spell- dragons are strong and too powerful to be knocked out by a single Stunning Spell. You need about a dozen wizards at once to overcome a dragon-"

"Yeah I know, I just saw," Harry said.

"But you can do it alone," Sirius said. "There is a way, and a simple spell is all you need-"

But I held up a hand to silence him, my heart pounding as if it would burst. I could hear footsteps coming down the spiral staircase behind us.

"Go!" I hissed. "Go! There's someone coming!"

Together, Harry and I stood up and blocked the fire. I heard a tiny pop from the fire and knew that Sirius was gone. I watched the bottom of the spiral staircase. Who decides to go for a stroll at one o'clock in the morning, and interrupt Sirius telling Harry how to deal with the dragon?

It was Ron. It was strange not seeing Fang and Iggy with him. Ron stopped dead when he saw the two of us, then he looked around.

"Who were you two talking to?" Ron asked.

I looked at Harry, frowning, then back at Ron. "Er- each other? There's no one else here, Ron."

"No, I heard a third voice. Like an adult. Who were you talking to?" Ron asked.

"What's it to do with you? What are you doing up this time of night anyway?" Harry snarled.

"I just wondered where you-" Ron said, looking at Harry. He broke off. "Never mind. I'm going back to bed."

"Just thought you'd come nosing around, did you?" Harry shouted.

"Sorry about that," Ron said, his face red with anger. "Should've realized you two didn't want to be disturbed. Max, I'm surprised at you. I didn't think you'd help him practice for his next interview."

Before I could say something, Harry seized a badge that read **POTTER REALLY STINKS** off the table and threw it, as hard as he could, across the room. It hit Ron square on the forehead.

"There you go," Harry hissed, "Something for you on Tuesday. You might even have a scar if you're lucky. That's what you want isn't it?"

Harry strode across the room towards the stairs. I thought Ron would stop him, even punch him, but Ron just stood frozen on the stairs, not looking at anything as Harry stormed upstairs.

* * *

><p><em><strong>Hey guys! because this chapter is sooooooooooooooo looooooooooooooooooooooong, this authors note with be short!<strong>_

_**and I'm sorry if it was kinda bad, and rushed, but it has been a while since I updated, so... hope you all enjoy it! :D what do you think of the little Eax moment? ;)**_

_**Hope everyone likes it, and when you review, you get cookies and butterbeer! so...**_

_**REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW! **_

_**-Rach ;)**_


	17. The First Task

_**AUTHORS NOTE :P**_

_**Hello :) How is everyone? **_

_**Thanks for all the reviews! Now I shall answer some!**_

_**jdr ride: I know more reading material is welcome, but I kinda worry sometimes that they could get annoyingly long, you know? Thanks for the review :)**_

_**AnikaandAj: thank you so much, that means a lot :) **_

_**Quail Sandwich: does it really bother you? because there's going to be a lot of HarryxMax in this story and in the following stories. **_

_**Arkell26: Max isn't becoming like Nudge, but anyone can see that a crocodile-skin handbag with magenta robes just don't go! :) and you shall find out soon :) sorry it was rushed, I just really wanted to finish that chapter because it had been a while since I updated, and it was like, 11 o'clock and I just wanted to go to bed. But I'll try my best not to rush anymore chapters :D **_

_**florafan199914: it won't be in this chapter, but it will be soon, before the Yule Ball. **_

_**Annie Bell: haha yeah, maybe you should make an account :D the whole "Max's brother" thing will be revealed shortly, when they go to see Sirius. The song thing is a good idea, but I don't think I'll do that, sorry. I just can't see Max doing that, sorry, but I do like the idea. Maybe not actually have her sing, but have her thinking of a song? I do like the song idea, though. I understand what you mean about the characters, but I suppose the books wouldn't be half as good if there wasn't that much real emotion.**_

_**Nico-the-neko: as much as I like the idea, I don't think I'll use it in this story. Why don't you write your own story about that? Sorry about not using it, but I really think you should write your own story about Pullip, I mean you have all the information and details... I'd feel like I was stealing it too. So you should write your own story about her! and you can call me rachie :)**_

_**Now, ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the... **_

_**FIRST TASK OF THE TRIWIZARD TOURNAMENT! **_

_**-Rach ;)**_

* * *

><p><em><strong>Max's POV<strong>_

I woke up on Sunday morning and went straight into the shower- I was too exhausted last night to have one. I watched as the water turned dirty and bloody as it ran down my body. I felt much better after the shower, and when I was done, I dried myself and got dressed quickly. The clothes I had been wearing the night before were destroyed, covered in blood, mud and there were leaves stuck in my shirt, and my jumper was shredded to pieces. I tried to clean my clothes with magic, but only most of the dirt and blood got out. I gave up in the end and threw the mangled clothes into my trunk. I looked down at my red guitar that Sirius had given me for Christmas last year. I picked it up and was just about the play a song when I changed my mind and put it back down. Lately I had been playing the guitar more usual. I played it when I was anxious or worried- so basically, I was playing my guitar every minute I could get my hands on it.

I woke up Hermione, aware that I was still stiff and sore. If the flock didn't heal so fast, I probably wouldn't have been able to get out of bed.

After Hermione got dressed, we went down to the Great Hall. "What happened last night with Ethan?" Hermione asked. She had been asleep last night when I went into our dormitory.

I ran a hand through my still wet hair, and let out a breath. "In here," I said, a dragged Hermione into an empty classroom. Then I told her everything that happened last night. Hermione was a great person to tell stories to- she gasped in all the right places, and when I finished, her hands covering her mouth. "Are you alright?" she gasped.

"I'm fine. One of the perks of being a super hybrid is that you heal fast," I said. Hermione still looked worried and she said, "You have to talk to Dumbledore! He could get rid of the Erasers, or else do something to stop them from getting into the castle."

"Yeah, I figured I'd have to talk to him. I'll talk to him on, we'll go to breakfast and find Harry, and he can tell you what Sirius said."

We walked into the Great Hall, and we found Nudge eating with Ginny. We sat down with them and I pulled a huge stack of toast and a bowl of cereal towards me.

"Nudge, I want you to stay away from the Forbidden Forest," I said.

"Why?" she asked, out of curiosity, not like she would disobey me.

I looked around and when I saw that no one was watching or listening, I whispered, "There's Erasers in the Forest, and some whitecoats." Nudge's eyes went wide and the color left her cheeks. "What?" she gasped. "How did they get into the grounds? That's impossible. How did they even know we were here?"_  
><em>

"I don't know, Nudge, but please stay away from the Forest. And if you see Fang and Iggy, tell them too. I don't want to talk to them," I said. Nudge looked even more worried, and she asked, "You haven't talked to them in ages. When are you going to forgive them?" she asked.

"Whenever they start talking to us again, and whenever Ron grows up," I said, biting into my toast. "But don't worry about it, Nudge, it's nothing serious. They're just being jerks." Nudge nodded, looking relaxed again.

When I finished my breakfast, I saw Harry coming in the doors to the Great Hall, looking anxious. He sat down with us, but didn't eat anything. As soon as Hermione had finished her porridge, Harry grabbed me and Hermione and dragged us out into the grounds. There, he told us all about the dragons, and about the giant Hungarian Horntial, then together we told Hermione about what Sirius had said, then I told Harry about the Erasers. I left out the kiss with Ethan.

Alarmed as Hermione was about Karkoraff, she seemed more nervous about the dragons. "Let's just keep you alive until Tuesday. Then we'll worry about Karkaroff."

"Hermione's right, Harry. The dragons are what we need to concentrate on now," I said.

We walked around the lake three times, trying to think of a simple spell that would knock down a dragon. Nothing whatsoever occurred to any of us, so we walked back to the library. Once we got there, I pulled down every book I could find on dragons, and the three of us sat down and searched through the large pile of books.

"Talon-chipping by charms... treating scale rot... This isn't any good! This is all for nutters like Hagrid that want to actually keep a dragon healthy!" I exclaimed after hours of flicking through books.

"Dragons are extremely difficult to slay, owing to the ancient magic that imbues their thick hides, which none but the most powerful spells can penetrate..." Harry read, "But Sirius said a simple spell would do."

"Let's try some simply spellbooks then," Hermione said, throwing aside the book she had been reading and disappearing into the shelves. She returned a few minutes later with a huge pile of books and set them down on the table. I started banging my head against the table as Hermione started whispering nonstop.

"Well, there are Switching Spells... but what's the point of Switching it? Unless you swapped its fangs for wine-gums or something that would make it less dangerous... The trouble is, like that book said, not much is going to get through a dragon's hide...I'd say Transfigure it, but something that big, you really haven't got a hope, I doubt even Professor McGonagall... unless you're supposed to put the spell on yourself? Maybe to give yourself extra powers? But they're not simple spells, I mean, we haven't done any of those in class, I only know about them because I've been doing O.W.L. practice papers-"

"Hermione," Harry said through gritted teeth, "will you please shut up for a bit? I'm trying to concentrate."

When Hermione fell silent, I started flicking through the other books, but there was absolutely nothing of any use in any of these books.

"Oh no, he's back again, why can't he just read in his stupid ship?" Hermione said irritably as Viktor Krum slouched in, casting a surly look in our direction (well, looking more at Hermione then me or Harry) then settled himself into a distant corner with a pile of books. "Come on, we'll go back to the common room...his fan club will be here any minute."

And sure enough, as we walked out of the library door, a gang of girls tiptoed past us, one of them wearing a Bulgarian scarf around her waist.

I slept badly that night. I kept waking up, sweating and panting, doing my best to remember the nightmares. But no matter how much I tried, all I could remember was high, cold, laughing and screaming.

On Monday morning down in the Great Hall, I couldn't get myself to finish my breakfast, which was very unusual. Harry, who wasn't eating much either, noticed that I wasn't eating and said, "Are you alright, Max? Normally, you'd be on your fourth plate by now."

"I guess I'm just not feeling that well," I muttered, pushing the plate away from me.

A few minutes later, Hermione and Harry had finished their bacon and the three of us stood up. Harry was staring at the Hufflepuff table, and I looked over my shoulder and saw that he was actually staring at Cedric. Remembering what Harry told me about the night with the dragons, I knew that Cedric was the only champion that didn't know about the dragons.

"I'll see you in the greenhouses," Harry said as Cedric walked out of the Great Hall with his friends. "Go on, I'll catch up with you in a few minutes."

"Harry, you're going to be late, the bells going to ring any minute-"

"I'll catch up, okay?"

"What's he up to?" Hermione asked as we walked through the entrance hall and out into the grounds. The cold bit at me like knives and I shivered.

"I think he's telling Cedric about the dragons," I said.

"Why would he do that?"

"Because Krum and Fleur would know by now about the dragons, but Cedric had no one to tell him. So Harry's telling him to make everything equal."

"But now Cedric has only one day to prepare to fight a dragon! That's hardly equal!"

"Cedric's smart, Hermione. And he's a seventeen, so he knows more magic then we do. He probably knows what to do by now."

We had reached the greenhouses, and Professor Sprout was showing us how to prune a Flutterby Bush. It was fifteen minutes into the class, and Harry still hadn't come back. "How long does it take to tell someone that they're fighting a dragon tomorrow?" I whispered to Hermione so no one could hear me. She shrugged and whispered, "Maybe they're helping each other figure out what to do? They're both Hogwarts champions."

"Maybe," I said.

Ten minutes later, Harry came into the greenhouse, murmuring an apology to Professor Sprout as we passed her, then he stood in between me and Hermione. "Hermione, Max- I need you to help me."

"What do you think we've been doing, Harry?" I said, rolling my eyes, hoping to hide my anxiety. What had happened now?

"I need to learn how to do a perfect Summoning Charm by tomorrow," Harry said. Me and Hermione stared at him, our eyes wide.

And so we practiced, and practiced, and practiced while Harry explained what happened. He told Cedric about the dragons, but when Harry was walking away, Moody came out from his office and told Harry to get in. Moody knew that Hagrid showed Harry the dragons, and Moody told Harry that the only way he'd get passed the dragon would be to play to his strengths, and Harry's biggest strength is flying on a broomstick, so that's what he needs the Summoning Charm for. At the task, he's going to Summon his Firebolt down to the arena, and he'd fly around the dragon and get the egg. We skipped lunch and headed into an empty classroom, where Harry tried with everything he had to make various objects fly across the room. He was still having problems. The books and quills kept losing heart halfway across the room and dropping like stones towards the floor.

"Concentrate Harry, concentrate..."

"What'd you think I'm trying to do?" said Harry angrily. "A great big dragon keeps popping up into my mind for some strange reason...Okay, try again..."

Harry wanted to skip Divination to keep practicing, and I wanted to skip to keep helping him, but Hermione wouldn't hear of it. So therefore, me and Harry had to endure an hour of Divination, with Ron, Fang and Iggy in the same room, and with Trelawney telling the whole class repeatedly that because of the position of Mars with relation to Saturn at that moment that people born in July were in great danger of violent, sudden deaths. _**(AN: Quick question- does anyone remember what day I said Max was born? was it the 15th of July? I can't remember and I don't want to go looking through all the chapters of this and the other story, so if you remember, please review with her birthday because I can't remember :/ thanks!)**_

"Oh brilliant," Harry said loudly, his temper getting the best of him,"just as long as it isn't drawn out. I don't want to suffer."

"Yeah, sudden and violet is the best way to go in my opinion. There isn't as much screaming and it's a tad less messy," I said sarcastically.

Fang and Iggy looked back at us and laughed, but I ignored them, let them know how it felt. Ron looked like he wanted to laugh too. I saw him catch Harry's eye for the first time in days, but Harry looked away.

We spent the rest of the lesson continuing with the Summoning Charms lesson. I was whispering instructions to Harry and he was waving his wand under the table, trying to get things to fly to him from under the table. He got a bit excited when a fly zoomed straight into his hand, but I don't think that was actually with the Summoning Charm- the fly was just stupid and flew into Harry's outstretched hand.

I forced myself to eat some dinner, but I still wasn't eating as much as I usually was. I was still able to hear that laughter from my nightmare, and every time I heard it, it made me sick to my stomach. Then we returned to the empty classroom with Hermione, using the Invisibility Cloak to avoid teachers. We kept practicing until past midnight. We would of stayed longer, but Peeves turned up, and pretending to think that Harry wanted things thrown at him, started throwing chairs across the classroom.

The three of us left in a hurry before the noise attracted Filch, and went back to the Gryffindor common room, which was now mercifully empty.

At two o'clock in the morning, Harry was standing near the fireplace, surrounded by heaps of objects: books, quills, several upturned chairs, and old set of Gobstones, and Neville's toad, Trevor. Only in the last hour did Harry finally get the hang of Summoning Charms.

"That's great Harry, well done," I said, lying on the couch with my head hanging off the edge and my legs up in the air.

"It's loads better, Harry, great work," Hermione said, looking exhausted but still very pleased.

"Well now we know what to do next time I can't do a spell," Harry said, throwing the rune dictionary back to me so he could try again. "Threaten me with a dragon. Right..." he raised his wand again. "_Accio Dictionary!" _

The heavy dictionary flew off my stomach, flew across the room and Harry caught it easily.

"Harry, I really think you've got it!" Hermione said delightedly.

"Yeah, you'll be great tomorrow. You've got the Summoning Charms down!" I said.

"Just as long as it works tomorrow," Harry said. "The Firebolt's going to be much farther away then the stuff in here, it's going to be in the castle, and I'm going to be in the grounds..."

"It won't matter," Hermione said, "Just as long as you concentrate really, really hard on it, it'll come. We'd better get some sleep...you're going to need it."

The atmosphere in the school the next morning was one of great tension and excitement. Lessons were to stop at midday, giving all the students time to get down to the dragons enclosure- though, of course, none of them knew what they'd find down there. All morning long, people were either wishing Harry good luck, or hissing, "We'll have a box of tissues ready, Potter." Even Ethan, who I hadn't talked to since we kissed, wished Harry good luck, but he completely ignored me. I tried to say something to him, but before I could speak he had already walked away.

"What was that about? I thought you guys were best friends- or did he not take the wings thing very well?" Harry whispered. I blushed slightly and said, "Er- no, everything is fine. Let's go."

Soon, it was lunch time. Harry seemed to be in a deep daze, walking slowly, and when he sat down at the Gryffindor table, he looked really confused. And then Professor McGonagall was hurrying over to us in the Great Hall, with loads of people watching.

"Potter, the champions have to come down to the grounds now... You have to get ready for the first-task."

"Okay," Harry said, standing up, dropping his fork onto his plate with a clatter.

"Good luck Harry," Hermione said, "You'll be fine."

"Yeah," Harry said, grinning faintly, then he looked over at me. I had planned to say something like what Hermione had said, but instead I stood up next to Harry and threw my arms around his neck, hugging him. He put his arms around my waist and hugged me back. I heard the people in the Great Hall say, "Ohhhh!"

I blushed and let go of Harry, who's face was red too. "Good luck. You're going to kick that dragons butt." He smiled, the first genuine smile I've seen on his face since we were talking to Sirius. He walked out of the Hall with McGonagall and I sat down beside Hermione again. Almost without thinking, I turned my head and looked over at the Ravenclaw table. Ethan was looking at me, but I couldn't read his face. When he noticed me looking at him, he turned his back on me without a smile or a wave.

I sighed and turned back to look at Hermione. When I looked back at my food, I immediately felt sick. "Let's go. I can't just sit here and wait."

"I was just thinking the same thing," Hermione said. We grabbed our bags and went up the staircase towards the Gryffindor common room, dropped our bags in our room, then raced down to the entrance hall. Down in the entrance hall we bumped into Ginny and Nudge.

"Hey Max!" Nudge said brightly. "Hey Nudge. Hey Ginny," I said.

"Do you want to head down to the arena for the first-task?" Ginny asked.

"We're meant to wait for the teachers. Students don't know where the arena is," Hermione said.

It was only a few minutes later when everyone started walking out of the Great Hall. We mixed in with the crowd and out into the grounds. I looked around at the amount of people that were coming down to watch the first-task; I was used to the large crowds that came for the Quidditch matches, but that was nothing compared to now. There was easily a hundred more people.

I noticed that all of the teachers were pale and anxious looking as we approached the Forbidden Forest.

"Why are we going to the Forest?" Nudge asked. "It's forbidden for students."

But before any of us could answer her, we saw that the teachers were walking along aside the trees, in the opposite direction of where the Erasers had me and Ethan, on the perimeter of the forest. We walked around the perimeter for so long that the castle and the lake were out of sight. We walked around a clump of trees, and we saw a huge clearing with a tent to one side, and a high-fenced arena was facing us, with hundreds of seats in raised stands.

"In an orderly fashion, everyone is to take seats in the stands and wait for the first champion to come out and complete the task," Professor Flitwick said. We walked through the trees and into the stands. The four of us sat in the front row.

We remained silent (which was very unusual because Nudge was with us), all of us too anxious and nervous to speak.

"Can we sit with you guys?" we heard someone ask.

I turned around and did my best to hide my surprise. Fang, Ron and Iggy were standing behind our seats, looking awkward.

"And why would you suddenly care about sitting with us?" I asked, raising my eyebrows.

"We've been idiots the last few weeks, and we're sorry," Iggy said. Fang nodded even grinning nervously, but Ron looked torn. I know that he believed Harry never put his name in the goblet, but he was too jealous to realize it.

"Took you this long to realize you've been idiots?" Ginny said. Iggy shrugged sheepishly, Fang just looked down at his trainers and Ron blushed.

"Well, when you're acting like an idiot, it takes you a while to realize that you've been acting like an idiot," Iggy said, throwing himself into the seat beside mine.

"You always act like an idiot, Ig," I said.

"But you love me for it," he said, grinning.

"So you guys forgive us for being jerks?" Fang asked, sitting beside Iggy, and then Ron sat down beside him.

"Can you apologize to Harry for being jerks?" Nudge said before I could.

Fang and Iggy nodded. "Yeah, of course. Anything," Fang said. Ron didn't move, or say anything.

"What about you, Ron? Are you going to apologize to Harry? And if you say that he should apologize to you, I swear to-"

"I'll apologize. I was going to on Saturday night, but he got really mad when he saw me. So I'm doing it after the task," Ron explained, not looking at anyone.

I looked into the arena. It was very big, and there were men standing around the fences, there wands out. They must be the dragon keepers. Knowing who I was looking for, I looked around at every face until I spotted him.

"Guys, look! It's Charlie!" I said.

"What?"

"It's Charlie, over there," I said, pointing.

"Why didn't he tell me he was coming?" Ron said, looking disappointed.

"Because then the task would of been obvious for you," Hermione pointed out.

"Yeah, I suppose," Ron said, sitting back in his chair. He suddenly sat forward again, his eyes wide. "That means the first-task is-"

He broke off when the men that were around the fences moved off into the trees. A few minutes later, they came back leading a fully grown, enormous, vicious looking dragon, silvery-blue with long, pointed horns. The crowd gasped, looking horrified at the sight of the dragon. The dragon was led over to a giant nest-like thing opposite the tent, where there were real dragon eggs, but also a large, bright gold one.

Ludo Bagman emerged from the tent to applause and cheering (they seemed to have gotten over the shock of the dragons). He waved and beamed around at everyone, looking very excited. He walked over to a long table that was near to where the dragon was sitting with her eggs. She didn't move, or even look around as Bagman walked to the table.

"Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the first task of the Triwizard Tournament!" he shouted into his wand. The crowd cheered loudly and the dragon growled lightly, but no one seemed to notice.

"Let me introduce our judges," Bagman continued. "Headmaster of Hogwarts, Professor Albus Dumbledore!" Dumbledore walked out of the wand, his blue eyes twinkling happily, but there was something about the way he was walking over to Bagman- a sort of stiffness that made me think that Dumbledore was actually worried and anxious, but he was hiding it well.

"Headmaster of Durmstrang, Professor Igor Karkaroff!" Karkaroff walked out after Dumbledore, but he wasn't smiling or waving. He was walked straight to the table.

"Headmistress of Beauxbatons, Professor Madame Olympe Maxime!" Madame Maxime walked to the table behind Dumbledore and Karkaroff, smiling.

"Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, Bartemius Crouch!" Like Karkaroff, Crouch walked out of the tent without smiling or waving.

"And then there is myself, and for those who do not know, I am Ludo Bagman, Head of the Department of Magical Games and Sports." There was another round or applause, then the judges sat down.

"Let me introduce the fist champion that shall be tackling their dragon to receive the golden egg, our first of the Hogwarts champions, Cedric Diggory!"

The crowd roared as Cedric walked out of the tent, looking very pale and visibly shaking. When he saw the dragon (which Ron had informed us was a Swedish Short-Snout) he froze. After a few seconds, he stepped closer into the enclosure, his wand in his hand. The entire crowd seemed to be holding their breath, waiting to see what he would do.

When the dragon spotted him, she covered the nest more protectively and roared. Luckily for Cedric she didn't breath fire.

Cedric waved his wand at a nearby rock, Transfiguring it into a large black Labrador. It ran around the enclosure, barking and jumping around. The dragon turned its attention to the dog instead of Cedric, following the dog around the enclosure, growling and roaring, giving Cedric the opportunity to sneak up to the nest quietly without the dragon noticing. The crowd were gasping and yelling, aggravating the dragon more. I held my breath. Surely Cedric couldn't get the egg this fast?

But just before Cedric grabbed the egg, the dragon turned around again, focusing on Cedric again. The crowd yelled as Cedric jumped out of the way of the fire the dragon shot at him.

"Oooh, narrow miss there, very narrow!" Bagman said into his wand. Cedric waved his wand again and the dog started barking louder then before, running around the dragon. She focused on the dog again, and without hesitation Cedric jumped closer to the nest, reaching for the golden egg. But the dragon saw him and flicked her tail towards Cedric's face. He ducked down out of the way just in time.

"He's taking risks, this one!" Bagman was saying. "Clever move- pity it didn't work!"

It was another few minutes of the same thing- Cedric would get close to the egg, then he would have to dodge out of the dragons way. After nearly fifteen minutes of Cedric dodging around the dragon, Cedric waved his wand once more to make the dog bigger and made it different colors. The dragon started chasing it around the enclosure, roaring and breathing fire.

Cedric stood in the large nest, not looking at the dragon anymore. He reached down and grabbed the egg, but as soon as he grabbed it, the dragon lost interest in the multicolored dog and turned back to Cedric. When she saw that Cedric was holding what she believed was one of her own eggs, she roared and breathed fire. Cedric wasn't fast enough to avoid all of the fire, and some burned his right cheek. He cried out in surprise more then pain, and fell back out of the nest onto his back.

The dragon keepers rushed forward to subdue to Swedish Short-Snout and Cedric climbed to his feet, one hand covering the burn on his face and the other hand holding the golden egg. He was beaming, and holding the egg up to show the crowd. There was a roar of noise as Cedric waved the egg while the dragon keepers took the dragon away. Professor McGonagall and Sprout came hurrying out to Cedric, who started walking over to them.

They started talking to each other, but I couldn't hear what they were saying. When the dragon was gone out of the enclosure, Professor McGonagall turned Cedric around to face the judges table.

"Very good indeed," Bagman shouted into his wand. "And now the marks from the judges."

Instead of reading them out, the judges waved their wands in the air and made the number appear. Madame Maxime gave Cedric an eight, Mr Crouch gave him a nine, then Dumbledore gave him a nine. Ludo Bagman then awarded Cedric an eight. And last was Karkaroff. He waved his wand in the air and a long silver ribbon in the shape of a six appeared in the air.

The crowd roared again as Cedric was led back to the tent. As he was walking, I could see him touching his face gingerly, wincing.

"Oh I hope he's alright!" Hermione said, finally taking her hands away from her face.

"He'll he fine. Madam Pomfrey came fix his face up in no time. No scar," Nudge said, sounding hopeful.

"Afraid that a scar would make him less good looking?" Iggy asked in a teasing voice, raising his eyebrows.

"No. I was just stating a fact," Nudge huffed, but the blush creeping on her face gave her away.

"Look, they're bringing in the next dragon," Fang said.

We looked over at where they had led off the Swedish Short-Snout, to see the dragon keepers (with Charlie in the front) leading a huge, smooth-scaled green dragon into the enclosure. Ron told us that it was a Welsh Green.

"One down, three to go! Miss Delacour, if you please!" Bagman shouted. The crowd cheered as Fleur walked out of the tent, trembling from head to foot, but she was holding her head high with her wand held tightly in her hand. Like Cedric, she paled slightly when she saw the dragon, but she was quicker to recover then he was.

She walked confidently towards the dragon, her wand ready. Beside me, Hermione was covering her face with her hands so she wouldn't have to see.

The dragon roared angrily when he saw Fleur approaching her, and she moved so that she was completely covering the nest and all of her eggs. Fleur moved closer to the dragon and waved her wand. The dragon roared angrily, but then she seemed to go into a kind of trance. The Welsh Green was blinking sleepily, and Fleur took her chance to move in closer. But just before she grabbed the golden egg, the dragon snored sleepily, and a jet of fire shot out and landed on Fleur's skirt.

She screamed and water came out of her wand and put out the fire on her skirt. When the fire was out, she reached down and grabbed the golden egg.

The crowd roared with applause as Fleur faced the judges table to receive her marks. "And now Miss Delacour will get her marks," Bagman announced.

And it was the same as with Cedric. First was Madam Maxime, who gave Fleur a nine, the Mr Crouch, who awarded her with a seven, then it was Dumbledore, who gave her an eight, then Bagman, who gave Fleur a seven, and finally Karkaroff, who gave her a five.

"Five? That's a bit low, isn't it?" Ginny asked, frowning at Karkaroff.

"Yeah, and he's going to give Krum a ten. Just watch. He's going to be the most biased judge during this whole tournament," Ron said.

Fleur left the arena to applause and cheering as the dragon keepers took the Welsh Green back to it's enclosure. Then a few minutes later, they came back with a dragon that was the same size as the other dragons, but this one was bright red and more vicious looking. "That's a Chinese Fireball! They're meant to be really vicious- Charlie has loads of burns and cuts from Chinese Fireballs," Ron explained in a whisper as the dragon crouched down in front of it's nest with the new golden egg in it.

"Excellent, excellent," Bagman said, "And now we have Mr Krum!"

"Oh crap," I said, realizing something.

"What?" Hermione asked.

"The only dragon left now is the Hungarian Horntail," I said.

Hermione's eyes widened, but before she could speak, there was an explosion of noise as Krum walked into the arena. He didn't smile or wave, and didn't hesitate when he saw the dragon. He walked straight towards the dragon with his wand in his hand.

Ron had been right- the Chinese Fireball was vicious. A soon as it spotted Krum approaching it, the dragon started thrashing around, trying to protect its eggs. Krum was quick and was able to dodge each swipe the dragon sent at him. Then the dragon shot a jet of fire at Krum, and he dodged that too, but only barely.

Krum raised his wand and shot a blue light at the dragon, and it hit him right in the eye. The dragon roared in agony and started trampling around, roaring in pain. The crowd gasped as tt trampled onto the nest, and squashed half of the real eggs. Krum took the opportunity to run toward the nest.

"Very daring! He's taking risks, this one!" Bagman cried as everyone in the crowd held their breath. "That's some nerve he's showing- and- yes, he's got the egg!"

Applause shattered the wintery air like breaking glass. It was Harry's turn now.

I held my breath as Krum turned around to face the judges table. Madame Maxime gave him a seven, Mr Crouch gave Krum a seven too, then Dumbledore gave him an eight, Bagman gave him a six, and just as Ron said, Karkaroff gave Krum a ten.

Krum nodded at the judges, then slouched back to the tent without smiling or waving. "Jeez, that guy is worse then Fang," Iggy said. We laughed and Fang glared at Iggy. "What? It's the truth," Iggy said defensively.

The dragon keepers came back with the Hungarian Horntail. The Horntail was bigger than the other dragon, with her massive, black, scaly wings folded around her, thrashing it's spiked tail.

I held my breath, waiting for Harry to come out of the tent.

"Brilliant! Now, for our second Hogwarts champion, and the last champion to compete today, Mr Harry Potter!" Bagman announced.

Harry walked slowly out of the tent, looking pale, panicked and nervous. I clenched my hands into hands into fists, digging my nails into my palms, while Hermione was digging her nails into her face. Ron, Fang and Iggy were sitting forward, looking anxious. Ginny and Nudge were jumping up and down in their seats from nerves.

Harry didn't react to the dragon, probably because he's already seem before. The crowd were cheering at Harry, but it looked like he wasn't even paying attention. Harry looked like he was concentrating hard, and then he raised his wand.

_"Accio Firebolt!" _he shouted.

I waited, every part of me hoping to see the Firebolt shooting over the trees, but it was taking longer and longer...

"Oh my God it didn't work," Nudge gasped. "What's he meant to do now? The Firebolt isn't coming, and he never had a back-up plan! That dragon is going to eat him and-"

"Nudge! Shut up and look over there!" Fang said, pointing over to the treetops. Harry's Firebolt was hurtling towards him. Harry looked relieved when it soared into the enclosure and stopped in midair beside him, waiting for him to mount. The crowd were shouting something, and Bagman was yelling into his wand, but I couldn't hear any of it. I was watching Harry as he climbed onto his broomstick, and kicked off hard from the ground.

As soon as Harry was flying in the air, I saw that he no longer looked scared. He looked just like he did during a Quidditch match. Focused, determined, but relaxed.

Suddenly, Harry dived. The Horntail's head followed him. Harry pulled out of the dive just in time; a jet of fire shot out from the Horntail's mouth, right where Harry was before he pulled from the dive.

"Great Scott, he can fly!" I heard Bagman yell as the crowd shrieked and yelled. "Are you watching this Mr Krum?"

Harry flew higher up into the air while the Horntail followed his progress. Just as the Horntail opened his mouth, Harry plummeted, but the Horntail's tail came whipping up to meet him instead. Harry swerved to the left to avoid it, but it was too late- one of the long, spikes hit him in the shoulder, ripping his robes and ripping through his skin. I could see the blood, but the cut didn't seem deep. The crowd screamed and groaned.

He zoomed back around to the back of the Horntail, and then he stared flying everywhere. He was going this way and then that way, but he wasn't close enough for her fire to hit him, but still close enough that the dragon still thought he was a threat.

He flew up higher, the Horntail's head rose up with him. He rose up a few feet more and she let out a roar of exasperation. He must of been like a fly to her, an annoying fly that she wanted to swat, but it just wouldn't stay still. She thrashed her tail again, but he was too high up...she shot fire into the air, which Harry dodged...her jaws opened wide...

Then suddenly, she reared, spreading her giant black wings- and then Harry dived. Before the dragon knew what was happening, or where Harry had gone, he was speeding to the ground too fast for her to follow. He sped towards the egg, now unprotected by her clawed front legs. I saw Harry take a hand off his Firebolt and grab the golden egg.

With a huge spurt of speed, he was off, soaring out over the stands, the egg safely under his arm. The crowd were screaming and applauding loudly and Bagman was yelling, "Look at that! Will you look at that! Our youngest champion is the quickest to get his egg! Well, this is going to shorten the odds on Mr Potter!"

The dragon keepers rushed forward to subdue the Horntail. Professor McGonagally, Moody, and Hagrid came hurrying to meet Harry, all of them waving at him, their smiles evident even from this distance. Harry flew back over the stands and landed smoothly.

I opened out my palms and noticed that were cuts in them in the shapes of crescent moons, and they were bleeding. I wiped them off my skirt, staining it with my blood.

"Let's go," I said, standing up. "They brought Harry back to the tents before they gave him his score." The others stood up beside me and we made our way down to the tent. McGonagall was standing outside, looking relieved.

"Can we go in and see Harry, Professor?" Iggy asked, suddenly all polite.

"Not at the moment. You'll have to wait until Madam Pomfrey has him fixed up," McGonagall said.

"How long will it take?" I asked, already edging towards the opening in the tent.

"Not that long, Miss Ride," McGonagall said, pulling me away from the opening.

After a few minutes, we could see the shadow of Madam Pomfrey moving from one end of the tent to another and saying, "How does it feel now, Diggory?"

"We can go in now," I said, and without waiting for McGonagall to say something, I walked into the tent, the others following me. When I walked in, I almost ran straight into someone- Harry.

"Harry! You were freaking insane! That was amazing!" I said.

"You were brilliant! You really were!" Hermione said squeakily.

"I thought your Firebolt wasn't going to come and then I got really worried, but then it flew right to you and you started flying around and it was awesome! That dragon was so confused and it was amazing! And then when you-"

"Basically, you did great, mate," Iggy said, grinning awkwardly.

But Harry wasn't listening to anyone. He was only staring at Ron, Fang and Iggy, but mainly Ron, who was very white at staring at Harry as if he was a ghost.

"Harry," he said, very seriously, "whoever put your name in that goblet- I- I- reckon they're trying to do you in!"

It seemed as if the last few weeks had never happened- as if we were meeting Ron for the first time since Harry had been made champion.

"Caught on, have you?" Harry said coldly, "Took you long enough."

Iggy said, "I'm sorry. Me and Fang were just mad because we thought you put your name in and never told us. But then we realized you wouldn't do that, but we couldn't bring ourselves to apologize. Sorry."

"We were idiots," Fang said.

Harry nodded, accepting their apology. Then Fang and Iggy turned to me and Nudge, and as if it was an unspoken rule, the four of us put our hands out and stacked them, then we tapped each others fists. It didn't feel the same without the Gasman and Angel, but we did our best. We all smiled at each other, then turned back to the others.

Ron was opening his mouth uncertainly. I knew Ron was about to apologize like Fang and Iggy, but before Ron could say anything, Harry said, "It's okay," he said. "Forget it."

"No," Ron said, "I shouldn'tve-"

"Forget it," Harry said.

Ron grinned nervously, and Harry grinned back. Hermione burst into tears.

"There's nothing to cry about!" I said to Hermione, bewildered.

"The two of you are so stupid!" Hermione shouted, stamping her foot on the ground, tears splashing down her shirt. Then before any of us could stop her, she gave each of us a massive hug, then dashed away.

"Barking mad," Ron said, shaking his head. "Harry, c'mon, they'll be putting up your scores."

Picking up his egg and Firebolt, Harry followed us out of the tent. I couldn't stop staring at him. I just couldn't believe that he had completed the first task with nothing more then a scratch on his shoulder. As we walked back to the enclosure, Ron told Harry what the other champions did very fast, and then we reached the edge of the enclosure. We could see the judges table more clearly now that the Horntail had been taken away.

"It's marks out of ten for each one," Ron informed Harry. The rest of us weren't talking, just letting the two of them talk away. I looked over at Ginny and Nudge and rolled my eyes. They both giggled, then stared at Madame Maxime raised her wand.

The silver ribbon that shot from her wand turned itself into an eight. "Not bad!" Ron said as the crowd applauded. "I suppose she took marks off for your shoulder."

Mr Crouch came next. He shot a number nine into the air.

"Looking good!" I said, thumping him on the back.

Next, Dumbledore. He put a nine up too. The crowd cheered even more.

And then- Ludo Bagman gave Harry a ten.

"Ten?" Harry said in disbelief. "But...I got hurt...what's he playing at?"

"Don't complain!" Ron said excitedly.

And then Karkaroff raised his wand. He paused for a moment, and then a number four shot from his wand.

"What? Four? You lousy, biased scum-bag, you have Krum a ten!" Ron shouted furiously.

"You tied in first place, Harry! You an Krum!" _**(AN- I probably did that math wrong, with Harry's points and Krum's points, but I don't really care...anyway :P)**_Charlie said, running up to us as we set off back towards the school. "Listen, I've got to run and send Mum and owl. I swore I'd tell what happened, but I'll be able to talk to you guys later," he said, talking more to Ron and Ginny then the rest of us. "And Harry, you were unbelievable! Oh yeah, and they told me to say that you have to wait around for a minute...Bagman wants a word, in the champions tent."

We told Harry that we'd wait for him while we went into the champions tent. We could hear people talking, but couldn't make out the words.

"I'm glad you and Harry are friends again," Ginny said.

"Yeah, I'm glad too," I said, grinning at Ron. I actually missed the idiot.

"Me too," Ron said.

A few minutes later, the flap on the tent opened and Cedric, Fleur, Krum, Harry and Bagman walked out. Harry walked over to us and together, we walked around the edge of the forest, all of us talking. Harry wanted to hear what the other champions did in more detail, which was no problem for Nudge. She babbled on about the other champions for about ten minutes straight, and Harry actually listened to her.

Then, as we rounded a clump of trees as Nudge was talking about how Fleur's skirt caught fire, a witch leapt out at us.

It was Rita Skeeter. She was wearing acid-green robes today, and Nudge actually gagged when she saw her.

"Congratulations, Harry," she said, beaming so wide that we could see all of her golden teeth. "I wonder if you could give me a quick word? How you felt facing the dragon? How you feel now, after scoring such a high mark?"

"Yeah, you can have a word," Harry said, and I stared at him in surprise. "Goodbye."

And we set off back to the castle, laughing just like old times.

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><p><em><strong>I'm really sorry for the long wait on this chapter, and I'm sorry for how crappy it might have been. I was really busy and have a lot on my mind right now so I'm sorry if it wasn't that good. <strong>_

_**Next chapter will be faster and better! I swear! **_

_**When you review, you get butterbeer and cookies, so... **_

_**REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW! **_

_**lOvE yOu! 3 **_

_**-Rach ;)**_


	18. The HouseElf Liberation Front

_**AUTHORS NOTE! :P**_

_**Hello my lovelies :D **_

_**Thanks for all the reviews, and the favorites, and the alerts :)**_

_**Oh guess what? :O**_

_**MY GAELIC TEAM WON THE FINAL! whoop! :D and it's the first time in 6 years that our team won it! :D **_

_**anyways, now I shall answer some reviews...**_

_**SevLoverKat: thanks :D **_

_**max artemis potter: that won't be long now...**_

_**jdr ride: haha thanks :) I know but they'll be around before the end of the story :)**_

_**AnikaandAj: Oh my gosh I love that show! I haven't seen in in years! including this chapter, there are 6 chapters left until the second task, I think. and 3 until the yule ball. **_

_**florafan199914: i knew i got that math wrong... thanks :)**_

_**Annie Bell: seriously? I thought I wrote her birthday... anyway, lets just say that Max's birthday is on the 15th of July...**_

_**EVERYONE, MAX'S BIRTHDAY IS ON THE 15TH OF JULY! thanks, Annie :)**_

_**Pyro and Darnet co: there will be an article, but not one just about Max and Ethan. It will be in a few chapters, like 2 or 3 I can't remember, but it will be before the Yule Ball. **_

_**Bethzilla: thanks :) that's one of the reasons I didn't want Max in the tournament, because I wanted people to see at least one of the tasks from a different point of view. all of the tasks are going to be in a different POV. **_

_**and thanks to everyone else that reviewed, and for all the favorites and alerts and so on.**_

_**Can we get 200 reviews before the Yule Ball? It's in 2 chapters! So get reviewing! :D**_

_**Enjoy the chapter guys :)**_

_**-Rach ;)**_

* * *

><p><strong>Max's POV<strong>

That evening, me, Harry, Ron, Fang, Hermione and Iggy made our way up to the Owlery to send a letter to Sirius, telling him everything that happened in the first-task, with bits written from each of us. Mine and Harry's paragraphs were the longest, but when I started writing I couldn't stop. I told him everything about the task, in detail, and then I told him about the Erasers, but I added that he shouldn't worry. Fat chance of that happening.

On the way to the Owlery me and Harry filled Ron, Fang and Iggy in on what Sirius told us about Karkaroff. Though shocked at first to hear that Karkaroff had once been a Death Eater, by the time we reached the Owlery, Ron and Iggy were saying that they ought to have suspected it all along.

"Fit's doesn't it?" Ron said. "Remember what Malfoy was saying on the train, about his dad being friends with Karkaroff? Now we know where they met each other."

"They were probably running around together at the World Cup," Iggy said. "I'll say one thing though, Harry, if Karkaroff did put your name in the goblet, I bet he's feeling pretty stupid now. Didn't work, did it? You only got a small scratch!"

"What owl are you going to use? You can have Stygian if you want," Fang said as I called down Freedom. I had my own letter to send to the Gasman and Angel. Freedom landed on my shoulder and nipped my neck affectionately. I stroked his wings and turned back to look at the others.

"Sure, thanks. Just let me get the letter-" Harry started but he was cut off when something tiny and fluffy flew right into his face. It was Pigwidgeon. He was flying in front of Harry's face, squeaking excitedly.

"I guess Pig can do it. He seems to want it more then Stygian," Fang said, looking up to Stygian, who was asleep. "Alright," Harry said. As if hearing them, Pig started hooting louder then before and he was flying everywhere, waking up some of the owls. Ron reached up and grabbed Pig and held him still so Harry could attach the letter.

"There's no way the other tasks can be that dangerous. How can they be?" Ron said as he carried Pig over to the window. "You know what? I reckon you could win this, Harry. I'm serious."

I knew he was only saying that to make up for his behavior the last few weeks. I pulled the letter I had written for Angel and Gazzy out of my pocket and tied it to Freedom's leg. It was just a basic letter, briefly describing the first task because I knew that Charlie had already written to Mrs Weasley, and then telling them the other things that are happening in Hogwarts, telling them about the Erasers but making it very clear that they haven't been seen since and that no one was hurt. I asked how they were, how Mr and Mrs Weasley were, and I asked them how annoying Percy was being. I had a feeling that Gazzy was having a bit too much fun driving Percy crazy and making bombs.

"Make sure to get a reply," I said to Freedom before throwing him from the window.

"You know Ron," Hermione said seriously, leaning against the wall with her arms crossed, "Harry has a long way to go before the end of this tournament. If that was how dangerous the first task was, then I'd hate to see what's coming next."

"Ever the optimist, aren't you Hermione?" Iggy said, leaning against the wall beside her.

"You and Trelawney should get together sometime," Ron said, throwing Pig out of the window. Pig plummeted about twelve feet before managing to flap his wings hard enough that he pulled himself back again; the letter on his leg seemed to be heavier then usual. I looked at Harry and we both snickered. Maybe we shouldn't have written so much.

We watched Pig disappear into the darkness, then Fang said, "We better go. There's a surprise party for you downstairs, Harry. Fred and George must have taken enough food from the kitchens by now."

We all stared at him.

"What?" he asked, looking at each of us. "What did I do?"

"You _talked. A lot,_" I said, gaping at him.

"Oh ha-ha," he deadpanned, walking out of the Owlery. We snickered before following him out.

And sure enough, when we walked into the common room, we were welcomed by an explosion of yells and cheers. There were mountains of cakes and butterbeer and pumpkin juice on every surface; Lee had set off some Filibuster's Fireworks so that the air was thick with stars and sparks. Dean and Nudge, who were both very good at drawing, had drawn some impressive banners, some of them with just Harry's face, and others with Harry zooming around the Horntail on his Firebolt, and another one of Cedric's head on fire, and hung them around the room. I only knew it was Nudge and Dean because Nudge was saying to anyone who was listening "Look what I drew! And Dean did that one! And I did that one! But Dean drew that one, and I did that one..."

The six of us helped ourselves to food, then sat down together, and a few minutes later Nudge sat down with us. "Blimey, Harry, this is heavy," Lee said, picking up the golden egg which Harry had left on the table, and weighing it in his hands. "Open it Harry, go on! Let's see what's in it!"

"He's supposed to figure out the clue on his own," Hermione said. "It's the tournament rules."

"I was supposed to work out how to get past the dragon on my own too," Harry muttered so only me and Hermione could hear him. We both grinned, me grinning smugly and Hermione grinning guiltily.

"Yeah, go on Harry! Open it!" several people called.

Lee passed the golden egg to Harry, who dug his fingernails into the groove that ran all the way around it and prised it open.

It was hollow and completely empty- but as soon as Harry opened it, the most horrible noise, a loud and screechy wailing filled the room. The nearest thing to it that I've heard was when the whitecoats would drag the surgical instruments along the metal operating tables, just for the pleasure of seeing us wince from the noise before they actually touched us.

"Shut it!" I shouted.

"What as that?" Seamus asked, staring at the egg as Harry's closed it. "Sounded like a banshee...Maybe you've got to get passed one of them next, Harry!"

"It was someone being tortured!" Neville, who had gone as white as a sheet and spilled all his sausage rolls onto the floor. "You're going to have to fight the Cruciatus Curse!"

"Don't be a prat Neville, that's illegal," said George, and I saw Neville turn his head, but he wasn't fast enough to hide his wince. Well, fast enough to hide it from me. I wonder why Neville was so touchy about the Cruciatus Curse? "They won't do the Cruciatus Cruse on the champions. I thought it sounded like Percy singing...maybe you have to attack him while he's in the shower, Harry?"

"Want a jam tart, Hermione?" Fred asked, holding one out for her.

Hermione looked at the tart as if it would bite her. I didn't blame her- never accept anything Fred and George give you, you could end up turning into a frog or something. You have been warned.

"It's alright," he prompted, "I haven't done anything to them. It's the custard creams you've got to watch out for-"

Neville, who had just bitten into a custard cream, chocked and spat it out. Fred laughed. "Just my little joke, Neville."

Hermione took the jam tart. I stared at her with wide eyes, shocked, but she just shrugged. Then she asked, "Did you get all these from the kitchens, Fred?"

"Yep," he said, sitting in a chair in front of us, with George beside him. Fred then put on a high-pitched squeak and imitated a house-elf. "`Anything we can get you, sir, anything at all!' Dead helpful... They'd get me a roast ox if I told them I was peckish."

"How do you get in there?" Hermione asked in an innocently casual voice.

"Easy," Fred said, "concealed door behind a painting of a bowl of fruit. Just tickle the pear and it giggles like mad-" he stopped and looked at her suspiciously. "Why?"

"Just wondering," Hermione said, a bit too quickly.

"Going to try and lead the house-elves out on strike now, are you?" George said. "Going to give up all the leaflet stuff and try and start a rebellion with them?"

Several people laughed, but Hermione didn't answer.

"Don't you go upsetting them and telling them they've got to take clothes and salaries!" Fred said warningly. "You'll put them off they're cooking!"

Just then, Neville caused a slight distraction by turning into a large canary.

"Oh-sorry, Neville," Fred shouted over all the laughter, "I forget- it was the custard creams we hexed."

Withing another minute, however, Neville had molted, and once his feathers had fallen off, he turned back into himself, perfectly normal. He even jpined in the laughing.

"Canary creams!" Fred shouted to the excitable crowd. "George and I invented them- seven Sickles each, a bargain!"

It was nearly one in the morning when I went up to my dormitory with Hermione. Lavender and Parvarti were still in the common room. I sat down on my bed, got my guitar and played one of my favorite songs _Misery Business _by _Paramore. **(AN: I know that song wasn't written when this story is set, but when it comes to songs and clothes its all modern but with everything else, it's the same as what it was like when this story is set. thanks)**_singing it quietly under my breath so I wouldn't disturb Hermione. But before I could finish the song, Hermione suddenly turned to me and said, "How does it not bother you?"

"A lot of things bother me, Hermione, and a lot of things don't bother me. You're going to have to be specific," I said, plucking at the strings.

"The house-elves. How they don't have any freedom," Hermione said.

"Look, I get why this means a lot to you. But you keep forgetting that the house-elves are happy the way things are. If you want to change anything about the house-elves, make it your dream to make a law where the people who own house-elves can't abuse them," I said.

"That can be what you want to do, but I'm going to get them salaries and proper freedom," Hermione said, her eyes flashing dangerously in the dark. Then what she said registered in my mind.

"Wait, why should it actually bother me? You've never asked that before," I said, putting the guitar down beside my bed.

"Well, I would of thought that you more then anyone would want all types of creatures to have freedom," Hermione said, not looking me in the eyes.

"Why would you think that?" I asked, already knowing the answer.

"Because of your past. The School and everything. I just would of thought that because you were trapped in a cage your whole childhood that you would want every creature to have freedom, and not go through that," Hermione said.

I sighed. "Hermione, that's not the same thing. We were raised in cages, where we had no freedom whatsoever, and we had experiments done on us nearly every day. It's so not the same thing. House-elves are happy with what they have to do. It's their job. They don't want a salary, or a pension or a holiday. They just want their masters to be happy."

"I know that, but it's wrong. They've never had salaries, or anything like that, so they don't know what their missing. If I could just talk to them..." she trailed off.

"Whenever you do talk to them, you'll see that their happy, and them let this whole spew thing go," I said, changing into my pyjamas.

"It's not spew. I'ts S.P.E.W," I heard Hermione whisper as she closed her curtains around her bed. I grinned and went into bed.

As soon as my head touched the pillow, I fell straight to sleep.

* * *

><p>As December started, it brought wind and sleet to Hogwarts. It was always cold during the winter in Hogwarts, but I was grateful for it's fires and thick walls every time I passed the Durmstrang ship in the lake, which was pitching in the high winds, it's black sails billowing against the dark skies. The Beauxbaton caravan was likely to be cold too. I also noticed that Hagrid seemed to be keeping very good care of Madame Maxime's horses, and was providing them with their preferred drink of single-malt whiskey; the fumes wafting from the paddock was enough to make the entire Care of Magical Creatures class light-headed. This wasn't really helpful, seeing as we were still tending with the horrible skrewts and we all needed to have a clear head.<p>

"I'm not sure whether they hibernate or not," Hagrid told the shivering class in the windy pumpkin patch next lesson. "Thought we'd jus' try an' see if they fancied a kip...we'll jus' settle 'em down in these boxes..."

There were now only ten skrewts left; apparently their desire to kill one another had not been exercised out of them. Each of them were now approaching six feet in length and their thick gray armor just made them the most repulsive things I've ever seen. The class were looking dispiritedly at the enormous boxes that Hagrid brought out with him, all lined with pillows and fluffy pillows.

"Well jus' leave 'em in here," Hagrid said, "an' put the lids on, an' we'll see what happens."

But a few minutes later, we all learned that skrewts did not hibernate, and did not like being forced into pillow-lined boxes and nailed in. Hagrid was soon yelling, "Don't panic, now, don' panic!" while the skrewts rampaged around the pumpkin patch, now strewn with the smoldering wreckage of the boxes. Most of the class- Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle in the lead (surprise, surprise) had fled into Hagrid's cabin through the back door and barricaded themselves in; me, Harry, Fang, Ron, Iggy and Hermione, however, were among those who remained outside to try and help Hagrid. Together, we managed to restrain and tie up nine of the skrewts, though we all got numerous cuts and burns in the process; finally, only one skrewt was left.

"Don' frighten him now!" Hagrid shouted at the six of us used our wands to shot jets of fiery sparks at the skrewt, which was advancing menacingly on them, it's sting arched, quivering, over it's back. "Jus' try an' slip the rope round his sting, so he won' hurt any o' the others!"

"Yeah, cause that would be freaking tragic!" I shouted angrily as me and Harry backed into the wall of Hagrid's cabin, still holding the skrewt off with our sparks.

"Well, well, well, this does look fun."

Rita Skeeter was leaning against Hagrid's garden fence, looking in at the mayhem. She was wearing a thick magenta cloak with a furry purple collar, and her crocodile skin handbag clutched in her arm.

Hagrid launched himself forward on top of the skrewt that was cornering me and Harry and flattened it; a blast of fire shot from it's end, withering some of the pumpkins nearby.

"Who're you?" he asked Skeeter as he slipped a loop of rope around the skrewts sting and tightened it.

"Rita Skeeter, Daily Prophet reporter," Skeeter said, beaming.

"Thought Dumbledore said you weren' allowed inside the grounds anymore," Hagrid said, frowning. Rita acted as if Hagrid hadn't spoken. "What are these fascinating creatures called?" she asked, beaming even wider.

"Blast-Ended Skrewts," Hagrid grunted.

"Really?" Skeeter said, apparently full of interest. "I've never heard of them before. Where are they from?"

I noticed a dull red flush rising up on Hagrid's face and resisted the urge to face palm myself. Where did Hagrid get the skrewts? Hermione, who seemed to be thinking along the same thoughts as me, and apparently Harry, said quickly, "They're very interesting, aren't they? Aren't they, Harry?"

"What? Oh yeah...interesting," he said.

"Ah, you're here Harry!" Skeeter said as she looked around. And when she saw Harry, she saw me. She looked as if it was the best day in her life. "And you're Maximum Ride, am I right? Would you say that Care of Magical Creatures was one of your favorite classes, Maximum?" she asked.

_Why the hell does she care about me? _I thought, frowning.

Without thinking once about it, I said, "Yes. Hagrid's a brilliant teacher." Hagrid beamed at me.

"Lovely. Really lovely," Skeeter said. She turned to Hagrid and asked, "Been teaching long?"

I noticed her eyes travel over Fang, who had a nasty cut along his cheek, to Lavender, whose robes were badly singed, to Iggy, who was nursing several burnt fingers (but he was used to them because of all the bombs he makes, so it was no biggie) and then on myself and Harry, and we were both dirty and had loads of bleeding cuts on our faces and arms. Then she looked to the cabin windows, where most of the class stood with their noses pressed against the window, waiting to see if the coast was clear. Wimps.

"Only me second year," Hagrid said.

"Lovely...I don't suppose you'd like to give me an interview, would you? Share some of your experience with magical creatures? The prophet does a zoological column every Wednesday, as I'm sure you know. We could feature these- er- Blast-Ended Scoots."

"Blast-Ended Skrewts," Hagrid said eagerly. "Er- why not?"

Skeeter nodded, then looked once again at the people still outside. She walked closer to Fang and she said, "And you are Fang Martinez, yes?" Fang nodded, not saying a word. "Lovely," she said, then she looked around again. She walked over to Iggy and said, "And you must be Iggy Griffiths?" Iggy nodded. "That's me," he said, but he didn't smile. Skeeter smiled again, then looked back at me. There was something about the way she looked at me I didn't like, but I couldn't tell what it was. She winked at me then turned back to Hagrid.

I had a bad feeling about this, but there was no way to saying anything to Hagri with Skeeter right there, so I stood in silence as Hagrid and Skeeter made plans to meet in the Three Broomsticks for a nice, long interview later that week. Then the bell rang up at the castle, signalling the end of the lesson.

"Well good-bye Maximum, and Harry!" Skeeter called merrily as we set of with the others. "Until Friday, then Hagrid."

"She'll twist everything he says," Harry said under his breath.

"Just as long as he didn't import those skrewts illegally," Hermione said desperately. We looked at one another- It was exactly the kind of thing that Hagrid would do.

"Well, he's screwed," Iggy said.

"Hagrid's been in loads of trouble and Dumbledore's never sacked him," Ron said consolingly. "Worst that can happen is Hagrid'll gave to get rid of the skrewts. Sorry...did I say worse? I meant best."

We laughed, and feeling slightly more cheerful, went off for lunch. "What I don't get, is why Skeeter was paying more attention to you us then to Harry," Fang said. "I was wondering about that myself," I muttered.

"I doubt it was anything. She's probably just going to write our names in the next article about Harry," Iggy said. Harry winced at the thought of another article, and we all laughed again.

For once in my life, I actually enjoyed Divination that afternoon. We were still doing star charts and predictions, but now that we were all friends once more, it was all funny again. Professor Trelawney, who had been so pleased with the five of us when we had been predicting our own horrific deaths, quickly became irritated as we sniggered through her explanation of how Pluto could disrupt everyday life.

"I would think," she said in a mystical whisper that did not conceal her obvious annoyance, "that some of us-" she stared meaningfully at the five of us, "might be a little less frivolous had they seen what I have seen during my crystal gazing last night. As I sat here, absorbed in my needlework the urge to consult the orb overpowered me. I arose, I settled myself before it and I gazed into it's crystalline depths...and what do you think I saw gazing back at me?"

"An ugly old bat in over-sized glasses?" I muttered under my breath.

The others fought to keep their faces straight.

"Death, my dears."

Parvarti and Lavender both put their hands over their mouths, looking horrified.

"Yes," Trelawney said, nodding impressively, "it comes, ever closer, it circles overhead like a vulture, ever lower... ever lower to the castle..."

She stared pointedly at us, but mostly at Harry, who yawned very widely and obviously.

"It'd be a bit more impressive if she hadn't done it about eighty time before," Harry said as we finally regained the fresh air of the staircase beneath Trelawney's room. "But if I'd dropped dead every time she's told me I'm going to, I'd be a medical miracle."

"You'd be a sort of extra-concentrated ghost," Ron said, chortling as we passed the Bloody Baron in the opposite direction, his wide eyes staring sinisterly. "At least we didn't get homework. I hope Hermione got loads from Professor Vector. I love not working when she is..."

But Hermione wasn't at dinner, or in the library when we went there to look for her. The only person there was Krum. Ron hovered behind the bookshelves for a while, debating in whispers whether or not he should ask Krum from an autograph- but then Ron noticed about seven or eight girls on the other side of the library debating the same thing and he lost his enthusiasm for the idea.

"I wonder where she's gone," I said as we walked back to Gryffindor Tower.

"Dunno...balderdash," Harry said to the Fat Lady.

But the Fat Lady had barely begun to swing forward when the sound of racing feet behind us announced Hermione's arrival.

"Harry!" she panted, skidding to a halt beside us (the Fat Lady stared down at her, eyebrows raised). "Harry, you've got to come- you've got to come, the most amazing things happened- please-"

She grabbed Harry's arm and started dragging him back down the corridor.

"What's the matter?" Harry asked.

"I'll show you when we get there- oh come on, quick-"

Harry looked at us over his shoulder. We looked back at him, intrigued.

"Okay," Harry said, looking really confused. We hurried after them.

"Oh, don't mind me!" the Fat Lady shouted as we ran down the corridor. "Don't apologize for bothering me! I'll just hang here, wide open, until you get back, shall I?"

"Yeah, thanks!" I shouted over my shoulder.

"Hermione, where are we going?" Iggy asked after Hermione led us down six floors, and started down the marble staircase into the entrance hall.

"You'll see in a minute!" Hermione said excitedly.

She turned left at the bottom of the stairs and hurried toward the door I recognized as the one the Hufflepuffs came up from for breakfast. We'd never been down here before. We followed Hermione down a flight of steps, but instead of ending up in a gloomy corridor like the one that led to Snape's dungeon, we found ourselves in a broad stone corridor, brightly lit with torches, and decorated with paintings mainly of food.

"Oh hang on..." I said slowly, halfway down the corridor. "Wait a minute. Hermione-"

"What?" she turned around to look at me, anticipation all over her face.

"I know what this is about," I said. I nudged Ron, who was beside me and pointed to the painting behind Hermione. It showed a gigantic silver fruit bowl.

"Hermione!" Ron said. "You're trying to rope us into that spew stuff again!"

"No, no, I'm not!" she said hastily. "And it's not spew, Ron-"

"Changed the name, have you?" Ron said, frowning at her. "What are we now then, the House-Elf Liberation Front? I'm not charging into that kitchen and trying to make them stop work, I'm not doing it-"

"I'm not asking you to!" Hermione said impatiently. "I came down here just now, just to talk to them all and I found- oh, come on Harry, I want to show you!"

She went up to the painting of the fruit and tickled the pear. It began to squirm, chuckling, and suddenly turned into a huge green door handle. Hermione seized it, pulled the door open and pushed us inside.

I caught one brief glance at an enormous, high-ceilinged room, the same size as the Great Hall above us, with hundreds of glittering brass pots and pans heaped around the stone walls and a great brick fireplace at the other end of the room, when something small hurtled passed me from the inside of the room, squealing, "Harry Potter, sir! Harry Potter!"

I looked around to see Dobby the house-elf with his skinny arms wrapped tightly around Harry's stomach.

"D-Dobby?" Harry gasped.

"It is Dobby sir, it is!" squealed Dobby. "Dobby has been hoping and hoping to see Harry Potter, sir, and Harry Potter has come to see him, sir!"

Dobby let go of Harry and stepped back a few paces, beaming up at Harry, his enormous green eyes brimming with tears of happiness. He looked exactly the same as how he looked two years ago, the last time I saw him; his pencil-shaped nose, the batlike ears, the long fingers and feet- all except the clothes, which were very different.

When Dobby had been working for the Malfoy's, he was always wearing the same old filthy pillowcase.

Now, however, he was wearing the strangest assortment of clothes I had ever seen. He had done an ever worse job of dressing himself then the wizards at the World Cup. For one thing, he was wearing a tea cozy for a hat, on which he had pinned loads of badges; a tie patterned with horseshoes over a bare chest, a pair of what could of been children's soccer short that wouldn't even fit Angel, and odd socks. One sock was black and old, I had the feeling that it was the one Harry had tricked Mr Malfoy into giving Dobby, freeing him. The other one was covered in pink and orange stripes.

"Dobby, what're you doing here?" I asked in amazement.

"Dobby has come to work at Hogwarts, sir!" Dobby squealed excitedly. "Professor Dumbledore has given Dobby and Winky jobs, sir!"

"Winky?" said Harry. "She's here too?"

"Yes, sir, yes!" Dobby said. He seized Harry's hand and pulled him off into the kitchen between the four long wooden tables. We followed after them. As we walked passed the tables, I noticed that each of the tables were exactly underneath the four House tables above, in the Great Hall. Now, they were clear of food, dinner having finished, but I suppose an hour ago they had been laden with dishes that were sent up through the ceiling to the tables above.

There were at least a hundred little house-elves standing in the kitchen, beaming and bowing to us as we followed Dobby and Harry. They were all wearing the same uniform: a tea towel stamped with the Hogwarts crest and tied, like Winky's was, like a toga.

Dobby stopped in front of the fireplace and pointed. "Winky, sir!" he said.

Winky was sitting on a stool by the fire. Unlike Dobby, she had obviously not foraged for clothes. She was wearing a little skirt and shirt with a matching blue hat, which had holes in them for her large ears. However, while every one of Dobby's strange clothes were so clean and well cared for that they looked brand new, Winky was clearly not taking care of her clothes at all (not that I'm one to say much). There were soup stains all over her shirt and there was a burn in her skirt.

"Hi Winky," I said kindly, smiling at her. The lost look in her eyes reminded me of some of the other experiments at the School that had barely lasted over a week.

Winky's lip quivered. Then she burst into tears, which spilled out of her great brown eyes and splashed down her front.

"Oh dear," Hermione said. "Winky, don't cry, please don't..."

But Winky just started crying harder then before. Dobby, on the other hand, just beamed at us.

"Would Harry Potter and his friends care for tea?" he squeaked loudly, over Winky's sobs.

"Er-yeah, okay," Harry said.

As soon as the words left his mouth, six house-elves came up behind us, carrying a large tray that had a teapot, six cups for us, a milk jug, and biscuits.

"Good service!" Iggy said, impressed. Hermione frowned at him, but the elves looked delighted. They bowed again and walked off.

"How long have you been here, Dobby?" Harry asked, handing around the tea.

"Just one week, Harry Potter sir," Dobby said happily. "Dobby came to see Professor Dumbledore, sir. You see, sir, it is very hard for a house-elf who has been dismissed to get a new position, sir, very difficult-"

At this, Winky howled even louder, her squashed-tomato shaped nose dribbling all down her front, though she made no effort to stem the flow. "Dobby has traveled the country for two whole years, sir, trying to find work!" Dobby squeaked. "But Dobby hasn't found work, sir, because Dobby wants paying now!"

The house-elves all around the kitchen, who had been watching and listening with interest, all looked away at Dobby's words as though Dobby had said something rude and embarrassing. Hermione, however, beamed and said, "Good for you, Dobby!"

"Thank you, miss!" Dobby said, smiling toothily at her. "But most wizards doesn't want a house-elf who wants paying, miss. `That's not the points of a house-elf,' they says, and they slammed the door in Dobby's face. Dobby likes work, but he wants to be paid and wear proper clothes. Harry Potter... Dobby likes being free!"

The Hogwarts house-elves had now started edging away from Dobby, as if he was carrying something contagious. Winky, however, stayed where she was, but there was a definite increase in the volume of her sobbing.

"And then, Harry Potter, Dobby goes to visit Winky, and finds out that Winky has been set free too, sir!" Dobby said delightedly.

At this, Winky threw herself forward off her stool and lay face-down on the flagged stone floor, beating her tiny fists on the floor and positively screaming in misery. Hermione hastily dropped down onto her knees beside her and tried to comfort her, but nothing she said made the slightest difference. Dobby continued with his story, shouting shrilly over Winky's screeches.

"And then Dobby had an idea, Harry Potter, sir! `Why doesn't Winky and Dobby work together?' Dobby says. `Where is there enough work for two house-elves?' says Winky. And Dobby thinks, and it comes to him, sir! Hogwarts! So Dobby and Winky came to see Professor Dumbledore, sir, and Professor Dumbledore took us on!" Dobby beamed very brightly, and happy tears welled in his eyes again.

"And Professor Dumbledore says he will pay Dobby, sir, if Dobby wants paying! And so Dobby is a free elf, sir, and Dobby gets a Galleon a week and one day off a month!"

"That's not very much!" Hermione shouted indignantly from the floor, over Winky's continued screaming.

"Professor Dumbledore offered Dobby ten Galleons a week and weekends off," Dobby said, suddenly giving a little shiver, as though the prospect of so much leisure were frightening, "but Dobby beat him down, miss... Dobby likes freedom, miss, but he isn't wanting too much, miss, he likes work better."

"And how much is Professor Dumbledore paying you, Winky?" Hermione asked kindly.

If Hermione thought that this would cheer up Winky, she was wrong. It did stop Winky crying, but when she sat up she was glaring at Hermione through her massive brown eyes, her face suddenly furious.

"Winky is a disgraced elf, but Winky is not yet getting paid!" she squeaked angrily. "Winky has not sunk as low as that! Winky is ashamed of being freed!"

"Ashamed?" Hermione said blankly. "But- Winky, come on! It's Mr. Crouch that should be ashamed, not you! You didn't do anything wrong, he was really horrible to you-"

But at these words, Winky clapped her hands over her ears so she couldn't hear a word being said and screeched, "You is not insulting my master, miss! You is not insulting Mr. Crouch! Mr. Crouch is a good wizard, miss! Mr. Crouch is right to sack bad Winky!"

"Winky is having trouble adjusting, sirs and misses," Dobby said, addressing all of us, "Winky forgets that she is not bound to Mr. Crouch anymore; she is allowed to speak her mind now, but she won't do it."

"Can't house-elves speak their minds about their masters then?" Fang asked.

"Oh no, sir, no," Dobby said, suddenly looking very serious. "Tis part of the house-elf's enslavement, sir. We keep their secrets and our silence, sir. We uphold the family's honor, and we never speak ill of them- though Professor Dumbledore told Dobby he does not insist upon this. Professor Dumbledore said we is free to- to-"

Dobby looked suddenly nervous and beckoned us closer. We bent forward. Dobby whispered, "He said we is free to call him a- a barmy old codger if we likes, sir!" Dobby gave a frightened sort of giggle, looking as if he couldn't believe he actually said it. "But Dobby isn't wanting to, Harry Potter," he said, speaking normally again. "Dobby likes Professor Dumbledore very much, sir, and is proud to keep his secrets and our silence for him."

"But you can say what you like about the Malfoy's now?" I asked, grinning.

A slightly frightful look came into Dobby's eyes. "Dobby- Dobby could, miss," he said. He took a deep breath, and squared his skinny shoulders. "Dobby could tell Harry Potter and his friends that his old masters were- were bad, Dark Masters."

Dobby stood for a moment, quivering all over, horror-struck by his own daring- then he rushed over to the nearest table and began banging his head on it very hard, squealing, "Bad Dobby! Bad Dobby!"

Harry jumped forward and seized Dobby by the back of his tie and pulled him away from the table.

"Thank you, Harry Potter, thank you," Dobby said breathlessly, rubbing his head.

"You just need a bit of practice," Harry said, grinning kindly.

"Practice!" squealed Winky furiously. "You ought to be ashamed of yourself, Dobby, talking that way about your masters!"

"They isn't my masters anymore, Winky," said Dobby defiantly. "Dobby doesn't care what they think anymore!"

"Oh, you is a bad elf, Dobby!" moaned Winky, tears leaking down her face again. "My poor Mr. Crouch, what is he doing without Winky? He is needing me, he is needing my help! I is looking after the Crouches all my life, and my mother is doing it before me, and my grandmother is doing it before her...oh what is they saying if they knew Winky was freed? Oh, the shame, the shame!" she buried her face in her shirt again and bawled.

"Winky," Hermione said firmly, "I'm sure Mr. Crouch is getting along perfectly well without you. We've seen him, you know-"

"You is seeing my master?" said Winky breathlessly, raising her tearstained face out of her skirt once more and gaping at Hermione. "You is seeing him here at Hogwarts?"

"Yeah," Iggy said, "he and Mr Bagman are judges in the Triwizard Tournament."

"Mr Bagman comes here too?" squeaked Winky, and to my surprise, she looked angry again. "Mr Bagman is a bad wizard! A very bad wizard! My master isn't liking him, oh no, not at all!"

"Bagman- bad?" Fang said. A man of many words.

"Oh yes," Winky said, nodding furiously. "My master is telling Winky some things! But Winky is not saying! Winky- Winky keeps her masters secrets..."

She dissolved into tears once again. It was reminding me too much of the School, of the creatures that would cry for hours, but then when they realized that no one was saving them, that they were going to die, they'd just sit in silence until they did die. I shuddered. Harry saw, and he gave me a questioning look. I just shook my head. Harry frowned, but he turned back to Winky to hear her sobbing, "Poor master, poor master, no Winky to help him anymore!"

We couldn't get another sensible word out of Winky. We left her crying and finished our tea, while Dobby chatted happily about his life as a free elf and his plans for his wages.

"Dobby is going to buy a sweater next, Harry Potter!" he said happily, pointing to his bare chest.

"Tell you what, Dobby," said Ron, who seemed to like the elf. "I'll give you the one my mum knits me this Christmas, I always get one from her. You don't mind maroon, do you?" Dobby was delighted.

"We'll have to shrink it a bit for you," I told him, "but it'll go well with your tea cozy."

As we prepared to leave, many of the surrounding elves pressed in on us, offering snacks to take back upstairs. Hermione refused, with a pained look at the way the elves kept bowing and curtsying, but the rest of us loaded our pockets with cream cakes and pies.

"Thanks!" Harry called over his shoulder to the elves, who had all crowded around the door to say goodnight. "See you Dobby!"

"Harry Potter...can Dobby come see you sometimes, sir?" Dobby asked shyly.

"Course you can," Harry said without hesitation. Dobby beamed.

"Dobby is awesome," Iggy said the moment the door closed behind us. "And so is this food," he added as he stuffed three cream cakes into his mouth at once.

"You know what?" Ron said, "all these years I've been really impressed with Fred and George for managing to steal all that food from the kitchens- well, it's not exactly difficult, is it? They can't wait to give it away!"

"I think this is the best thing to happen to them, you know," Hermione said, leading the way up the stairs in the entrance hall. "Dobby coming to work here, I mean. The other elves will see how happy he is, being free, and slowly it will dawn on them that they want to be free too!"

"That'll be hard when Winky is there too," I said.

"Oh, she'll cheer up," Hermione said, though she seemed a bit doubtful. "Once the shocks worn off, and she's got used to Hogwarts, she'll see how much better off she is without that Crouch man."

"She seems to love him," Iggy said thickly, eating his eighth cream cake.

"Doesn't think too much about Bagman though, does she?" Harry said. "Wonder what Crouch says about him?"

"Probably says he not a very good Head of Department," said Hermione, "and let's face it...he's got a good point."

"I'd still rather work for him then Crouch," I said. "At least Bagman has a sense of humor."

"Don't let Percy hear you saying that," Hermione smiled.

"Yeah well Percy wouldn't want to work for someone with a sense of humor, would he?" Ron said, eating a chocolate eclair. "Percy wouldn't recognize a good joke if it danced naked in front of him wearing Dobby's tea cozy."

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><p><em><strong>Ta-da! Here's the chapter! Hope everyone liked it :) <strong>_

_**Okay, so I could possibly be going to the Warner Brother Studio Tour thing in London! Has anyone gone? It looks unreal!**_

_**Anyway, can we please try and get 200 reviews by the Yule Ball? I would love you all if that happened :D and I'd update faster!**_

_**so, for your cookies and butterbeer, you need to review, so...**_

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_**lOvE yOu! **_

_**-Rach ;)**_


	19. The Article

**_AUTHORS NOTE! :P_**

**_Hey :) thanks for all the reviews and favorites and alerts, I appreciate them all :)_**

**_Now I shall answer some reviews..._**

**_Courtney DiLaurentis: thanks and I can't wait to write it!_**

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**_thanks to everyone else that reviewed and we're still aiming for 200 by the next chapter! right now we have 189 reviews, so get reviewing! _**

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**_-Rach ;)_**

* * *

><p><em><strong>Max's POV<strong>_

"Will you pay attention?"

Professor McGonagall's irritated voice cracked like a whip through the Transfiguration class on Thursday, and me, Harry, Ron, Fang and Iggy all jumped and looked up at the same time. It was the end of the lesson' we had finished our work, the guinea fowl we had been changing into guinea pigs were shut away in a large cage on McGonagall's desk, we had copied down our homework from the board. The bell was going to ring any moment, and the five of us had been having a sword fight with a couple of Fred and George's fake wands. We looked at McGonagall, Ron holding his tin parrot, ready to hit it against Harry's rubber haddock, and I was holding Iggy's rubber duck beside my fake chicken, while Fang still had a hold on his rooster.

"Now that Potter, Ride, Weasley, Martinez and Griffiths are acting their age," McGonagall said, with an angry look at us as the head of Harry's haddock dropped silently to the floor- Ron's parrot's beak had severed it moments before- "I have something to tell you all.

"The Yule Ball is approaching- a traditional part of the Triwizard Tournament and an opportunity for us to socialize with our foreign guests. Now, the ball will only be open to fourth years and above- although, you many invite a younger student if you wish-"

Lavender let out a shrill giggle. Parvarti nudged her in the ribs, her face working furiously as she fought not to giggle. They both looked down at Harry and I glared at them. I don't know why. Maybe it was because McGonagall ignored them, which was unfair because she had just given out to us.

"Dresses and dress robes will be worn," McGonagall continued, "and the ball will start at eight o' clock on Christmas Day, finished at midnight in the Great Hall. Now then-"

McGonagall looked around the class.

"The Yule Ball, is of course, a chance for us all to-er-let our hair down," she said in a disapproving voice.

Lavender giggled harder then ever, with her hand pressed to her mouth to stifle the sound. I could actually see what was funny this time: Professor McGonagall, with her hair in a tight bun, looked as though she never put it down.

"But that does NOT meant," McGonagall went on, "that we will be relaxing the standards of behavior we except from each and every one of you. I will seriously displeased if a Gryffindor student is to embarrass the school in any way."

The bell rang, and there was the usual stampede to get to the door.

Over the noise, McGonagall called, "Potter- a word, please."

"I bet its something about the animal fighting," Iggy said as we waited outside the door.

"Animal fighting?" Hermione asked, who hadn't taken part of the fight, because she wasn't `as immature as you lot!' as she put it.

"Well, yeah. I would of been a sword fight if we were doing it with swords, but we weren't. We were using fake, rubber animals. So it was an animal fight," Iggy explained in a matter-of-fact tone.

I rolled my eyes. "You're such a dope," I grinned.

A few minutes later, Harry walked out of the class, looking moody and annoyed. "What did she want?" Fang asked.

"Told me that I have to find a dance partner for the ball. The champions open the Yule Ball by dancing with their partners," Harry said.

"So you need to find a date?" Ron asked. Harry nodded his head. "Yeah, basically."

"Brilliant," Iggy said, grinning. "We can all find dates. This should be fun." I smacked him over the head and said, "Don't be so sexist!"

"Oh yeah, like you two don't want to find a nice date?" Ron said, looking at me and Hermione.

"We don't need dates. It's Harry that'll need a date more then us. If he doesn't have a date, he's going to look like a nimrod," I said.

"Wow, thanks Max," Harry said sarcastically. I smiled at him. "Always trying to help."

"You can always ask that Cho chick," Iggy said. "You like her, don't you?"

Harry blushed and looked away from me. "Yeah, but I don't think I'd ask her." We spent the rest of the day thinking of girls Harry could take to the ball. I didn't like it, but I don't know why. I got this weird feeling in my stomach every time a new girls name was mentioned.

"That's all the girls I can think of," Fang said, sitting back in the couch in the common room. "Would you consider going with a boy?"

We all laughed as Harry frowned and shook his head furiously. Maybe this wasn't so bad after all.

I have never seen so many people staying at Hogwarts for Christmas. We, of course, always did, because Harry always stayed and we didn't want him to be alone at Christmas. I understood why he wanted to stay at Hogwarts every Christmas- the only other option was going back to his aunt and uncle, and no one would want to stay there for more then five minutes. How Harry stayed there for eleven years still mystified me.

This year, it seemed as though everyone that was in fourth year and above were staying. Even Nudge was staying. "I'm just hoping someone will ask me, so I can go. If they don't, I'm still going to go," she beamed when I asked her why she wasn't going back to the Burrow.

Everyone seemed to be obsessed over this ball- well, all the girls were. It was amazing how many girls there actually were in Hogwarts and I never noticed it before. Girls giggling and whispering to each other in the corridor, girls shrieking with laughter whenever a boy passed them, girls excitedly comparing notes to what they were wearing Christmas night... The only girls I noticed that weren't talking about the Yule Ball every hour of the day were me and Hermione.

"Why do they have to move in packs?" I heard Harry asking Ron, Fang and Iggy as a group of girls walked passed them, staring at Harry. "How are we supposed to get one on their own to ask them?"

"Lasso one?" Ron said. "Got any idea who you want to ask?"

Harry didn't answer. He was probably going to ask Cho Chang. She was extremely pretty, and very popular, and a really good Quidditch player. Why wouldn't he ask her?

"Listen," Ron said, "You're not going to have trouble getting a date. You're a champion! You've just beaten a Hungarian Horntail. I bet they'll be queuing up to go with you."

Amazingly, Ron was actually right.

The next day, a third-year Hufflepuff girl with curly brown hair, who had never spoken to either of us before, asked Harry to go with her. He refused straight away, and she walked away rather hurt. During History of Magic, he had to put up with us teasing him, with the help of Seamus and Dean. The following day, two more girls asked him, a second-year (and to make things more amusing for us) a fifth year that looked as if he'd throw Harry out the window if he said no.

"She was kinda good looking," I said after I stopped laughed.

"She was a foot taller then me," Harry said, "Imagine trying to dance with her?"

"Mate, everyone is a foot taller then you," Iggy said. Harry just glared at him.

Harry wasn't the only person getting people asking him to the ball. Surprisingly, so was I. The day the massive fifth-year asked Harry, a fourth-year Hufflepuff boy who I've never spoken to before walked up to me and asked shyly if I wanted to go with him. I apologized and told him no. But after that, more boys asked me, including two Slytherins, but they looked desperate for a date. I said no to every one of them. I didn't know why, most of them seemed really nice, but I just couldn't say yes to them.

I also noticed that Harry wasn't getting as much bad-mouthing in the corridors anymore, and there were less and less Support Cedric! badges around too. Of course, Malfoy was still wearing his badge, and quoting Rita Skeeter's article at every chance her got, but he was getting fewer and fewer laughs from it. And best of all, no story about Hagrid had come up in the Daily Prophet.

"She didn' seem very int'rested in magical creatures, ter tell yeh the truth," Hagrid told us when we asked him about it in the last Care of Magical Creatures class of the term. To everyone relief, Hagrid had given up on direct contact with the skrewts, and we were just sheltering behind his cabin, preparing a fresh selection of food with which to tempt the skrewts.

"She jus' wanted me ter talk about ye lot," Hagrid said, pointed to me, Fang, Iggy, and Harry. "An' Nudge, too, o' course."

"Us? Why us?" I asked.

"Dunno," Hagrid said. "Told her we'd been friends since I brought yeh ter Diagon Alley, and been friends with you, Harry, since I got yeh from the Dursley's. `Never had to tell them off in four years?' she said. `Never played you up in lessons?' I told her no an' she didn' seem happy at all. Yeh'd think she wanted me ter say ye were all horrible."

"Course she did," Harry said, throwing lumps of dragon liver into a large metal bowl. "She can't keep writing about what a tragic little hero I am, or it'll get boring. But why was she asking about you guys?"

"That's what I'd like to know," I said, cutting up more cow kidneys.

"You don't think she knows?" Fang whispered, quiet enough only I could hear it. "I don't see how she would of found out. Let's just hope she wanted to find out more about the only American students at Hogwarts."

"But you're not American. Not really," Fang said.

"And who else knows that? No one else knows that Sirius is my dad, so everyone still thinks I'm American," I said.

"Let's just hope you're right," he sighed.

"It's me. I'm always right," I grinned.

"She wants a new angle, Hagrid," Ron said. None of them had noticed me and Fang's conversation. "You were supposed to say that Harry's a mad delinquent."

"But he's not!" Hagrid said, looking genuinely shocked.

"She should've interviewed Snape," Harry said grimly, "he would of told her everything she wanted to know. `Potter has been crossing lines here since he first set foot in this school..."

"Said that, did he?" Hagrid said while we laughed. "Well, yeh might've bent a few rules, Harry, bu' yeh're all righ' really, aren' you?"

"Cheers Hagrid," Harry smiled.

"Are you coming to this ball on Christmas Day, Hagrid?" I said.

"Though' I might look in on it, yeah," Hagrid said. "Should be a good do, I reckon. You'll be opening the dancin', won' yeh, Harry? Who're you takin'?" I couldn't help but notice Hagrid's eyes flash to me when he asked that.

"No one yet," Harry said, blushing.

The next day was Saturday, so I slept in late. When I woke up, the dormitory was empty. I dressed quickly, feeling hungry, and left the dormitories and walked down into the common room. There were a few people there, as I walked passed them to get to the portrait hole, I noticed them staring at me and whispering. I frowned, wondering what their problem was. I shrugged it off and walked down to the Great Hall.

All the way through the castle, it was the exact same thing. If I passed someone going down the stairs, they'd stare at me until I glared at them and they lost their nerve.

Just before I walked into the Great Hall, Fang, Iggy and Nudge came out, looking pale, worried, and slightly angry. "What's wrong?" I asked. Before they could answer, Harry, Ron and Hermione joined us, Hermione holding today's Daily Prophet.

"We need to go somewhere private," Hermione whispered urgently. The doors to the Great Hall were still opened, and I could see people staring at us. Hermione started walking back up the stairs, and she finally led us to a deserted classroom.

"What's going on?" I asked. "People have been staring at me all morning."

Instead of answering, Hermione just handed me the newspaper. I was afraid to look at it. The way the others were acting, I thought someone had died.

I took a breath and looked down at the Daily Prophet. I thought I was going to pass out.

It was a picture of us- me, Fang, Iggy and Nudge. But we were flying. It was from a few weeks ago, when we went flying together in the middle of the night.

Over the picture it read **Bird-Kids at Hogwarts- Miracles or Freaks? **

I looked up. "What the hell is this?" I hissed.

"Just keep reading," Nudge whispered, looking pained.

I looked back down at the paper and read the long article that joined the picture.

_Late last month, I, Rita Skeeter, discovered that there are four students at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, that possess not only impressive magical ability, but the ability to fly without a broomstick- they have wings. These students are Maximum Ride, Fang Martinez, Iggy Griffiths and Nudge Weasley. There are two younger children that are in their "flock" but are too young to come to Hogwarts._

_But these children were not meant to be born with wings. The parents never knew that on their regular check-ups, the Healers were giving their babies avian (bird) DNA. When the children were born, they had wings. The Healers would then tell the parents that their child was dead, and take the baby with them to continue with their experiments__. The oldest, Maximum, was taken from her parents shortly after her birth, and taken to a Muggle building called a laboratory in America, that they called "The School." Shortly after, Fang and Iggy joined Maximum. While they were there, the scientists that worked there did painful experiments on them, keeping them in cages. _

_When Ride, Martinez and Griffiths were ten, they managed to escape with the younger bird-children, Nudge, the Gasman and Angel. They lived together for a year, before Professor Dumbledore came to their home in America and informed them that they would be going to Hogwarts. _

_"It was the happiest moment of my life," Ride told me. "I mean, I loved it there, but I always felt like there was something missing. Now, at Hogwarts, I feel complete."_

_"It still hurts to think about my childhood," Martinez informed me when I asked him if he still thinks about what it was like growing up. "We all still get scared about it. But we've moved on, and we're happy here."_

_But there is still hope of a love life for these unfortunate children. The very __night __"the flock" told me about their past and their wings, Maximum shared her first kiss with a Ravenclaw boy._

Below this was a picture of me and Ethan kissing under the tree by the lake. So that explained the clicking noise I had heard... I blushed furiously out of anger, but also slightly out of embarrassment that my fist kiss was all over the newspaper. I looked back at the paper, forcing myself to read the rest.

_"We never wanted to tell anyone about our wings. We weren't sure how people would take it. But we agreed that we just couldn't keep it to ourselves anymore, so we thought telling you would be the fastest way to get it around. Now everyone can know about us. We don't have to hide anymore," Griffiths told me. _

_Now the question I'm sure we're all asking each other is, are these children dangerous? Could they harm us, or our children? I doubt that the children could harm anyone, but I regretfully can't say the same for Maximum's father. _

_"Before last summer, I thought both my parents were dead. But I was wrong. My father is Sirius Black. But I don't want anything to do with him. He's a murderer. He's dead to me," Maximum said, tears brimming in her eyes. _

_In a strange twist, all six of these strange children have become close friends with none other then The Boy Who Lived, Harry Potter. Let's just hope that Mr. Potter's good nature will prevent the bird-kids from being a threat. _

Under the last sentence paragraph were more about ten more pictures of us flying around the forest, and a couple more of me and Ethan kissing.

I threw the paper across the room. "How the hell did she find out?" I shouted furiously, my face red with rage.

"We don't know," Iggy said. "Did you tell anyone recently?"

"Of course I didn't tell-" I started, but I stopped myself. I did tell someone recently. Ethan.

"What is it?" Nudge asked.

"I told Ethan," I said quietly.

"You did _what?"_ Fang snapped.

"I didn't have much of a choice!" I shouted. "He saw the Erasers, and they basically told him everything anyway. But he wouldn't tell Skeeter." But even as the words left my mouth, I wasn't sure if they were true. The look on Ethan's face when he walked away from the lake flashed in my mind. But Ethan wouldn't do this, no matter how hurt he had felt? Would he?

"Well if it wasn't him, then who was it?" Harry asked.

"Malfoy," Hermione said, raising her head. "Remember in first-year? He called Max birdie, then told everybody that they were birds? I bet it was him."

Fang shook his head. "It wasn't Malfoy. If it was, he would of gone to the Daily Prophet ages ago."

"Who else knows? We're not even sure if Malfoy knows for sure," Iggy said.

We sat in silence, thinking over everyone that could know about us. "Well, there are all the teachers-" I started, but Nudge interrupted me.

"OMG! It was Snape!" she said, jumping up.

"We'll keep him in mind as suspect number one," I said grimly. I couldn't believe this was happening. Everyone knew about us now. They even knew that Sirius was my dad, but Skeeter had written that I hated him. If Sirius somehow managed to read the article, he'd somehow believe that I hated him...

**Your father won't believe this, Maximum. And no one told Rita Skeeter about the flock, **the Voice said.

_What? Then how did she find out? _

**Skeeter has her ways of finding out what she wants. How do you think she gets all that information? **

_ What are her ways? _And to no ones surprise, the Voice didn't answer.

"Hello? Earth to Max? Maaaaax?" Nudge was saying, waving her hand in front of my face. I jumped back and realized that I had completely zoned out when I was talking to the Voice. "Sorry, I was talking to the Voice," I grumbled. Something about the Voice had always set me on edge. How was it that it knew everything that was happening?

"What was it saying? Anything about this stupid article?" Ron asked. I nodded my head. "It said that no one told Skeeter about us. That she has her ways of figuring out what she wants," I said.

"What are her ways?" Hermione asked.

"The Voice didn't say," I said.

"This isn't helping anything," Iggy said. "We should just go down to the Great Hall and face the music."

"You know what that's going to be like?" Nudge said, raising her eyebrows and looking horrified. "Everyone is going to be staring at us, and whispering..."

"Just think of it as being famous," Ron said, grinning but there was no humor behind it.

"Well, we are famous now," I mumbled darkly, glaring at the newspaper that was crumpled in the corner.

"Let's get this over with," Fang said determinedly, his dark eyes flashing, walking over to the door. We got up and joined him by the door. Fang looked down at me, and asked, "Are you ready?" I nodded and said, "Let's do this."

The following week (which was also the last week of term) was the worst week of my life. Everywhere I went, there were people staring at me, and if they weren't staring at my face, they were staring at my back. A few people actually told us that we were really brave to still go to school after everything that happened to us, but other people just shouted, "freaks!" right to our faces, or else asking, "can I see your wings?" and directed at me instead of all of us, "You gonna help your dad kill more innocent people, Ride?"

The teachers did there best to get the other students to leave us alone, but it wasn't really working; as soon as the teachers turned their backs, we were pounced on again, either asking us questions or calling us freaks.

The day after the article came out, I sent a letter to Sirius, explaining everything that happened, but I haven't gotten a reply yet. I was starting to worry that he really believed that I hated him. But that was ridiculous, he was smarter then to believe anything Skeeter wrote.

On top of everything else, we were given a mountain load of work to do before the Christmas holidays, every single person was talking endlessly about the Yule Ball and there were some stupid rumors going around about the ball, like that Dumbledore had ordered eight hundreds barrels of mulled mead from Madam Rosmerta. But it was a fact however that Dumbledore had booked the Weird Sisters, one of the most popular wizarding bands that I sometimes listened to in the Burrow on the radio.

Truth be told, after the article, I wasn't looking forward to the Yule Ball. Nudge had told me that she had a dress for me, but I wasn't allowed see it until Christmas Day, but it was a dress everyone would be able to see my wings. I didn't think I could handle having people staring at me any more.

Some of the teachers, like Professor Flitwick, gave up trying to teach our class when our minds were so clearly elsewhere; he let us play games in his lesson on Wednesday, and spent most of it talking to Harry about the perfect Summoning Charm he had used during the first-task. Other teachers weren't as generous. Nothing could ever get Professor Binns to stop going through his notes with his boring, drawling voice- he didn't even let his own death stop him teaching, and supposed that Christmas wasn't going to put him off. It was actually amazing how he made something as violent and bloody goblin riots sound as boring as Percy going on and on about his cauldron-bottom report. Professors McGonagall and Moody kept us working until the very last second of the class, and Snape of course would no sooner let us play games in his class then adopt all the Gryffindors. Staring nastily around at us all, he informed us that he would be testing us on poison antidotes during the last lesson of the term.

"Evil, he is," Ron said bitterly while we tried to ignore all the goggling and staring we were getting in the Gryffindor common room. "Popping a test on us on the last day. Ruining the last bit of term with a whole load of studying."

"You aren't exactly straining yourself though, are you?" Hermione said, looking at him over the top of her Potions book. Ron was building a card castle out of his Exploding Snap pack- a much more interesting pastime then with normal Muggle cards, because of the chance that the whole thing would explode at any second.

"It's Christmas, Hermione," I said, leaning back into the couch and glaring at some sixth years that were whispering to each other and staring at us.

Hermione looked severely over at me too, but before she could say anything, Harry said, "Max is right, Hermione. It's Christmas. We should be relaxing."

"I'd have thought you'd be something constructive, Harry, even if you don't want to learn your antidotes!" Hermione said.

"Like what?" Harry asked.

"The egg!" Hermione hissed.

"Come on, Hermione, I've got till February the twenty-fourth," Harry said.

"But it could take weeks to figure it out! You're going to look like an idiot if everyone knows what the next task is and you don't!"

"Leave him alone, Hermione, he's earned a break," Iggy said, just as Ron placed the last two cards on top of the castle and the whole lot blew up, singeing his eyebrows.

"Nice look, Ron... go well with your robes, that will."

It was Fred and George. They sat down in the seats around us as Ron tried to feel for the eyebrows that weren't there as we held in our laughter. It felt nice to laugh after so long of feeling miserable.

"Ron, can we borrow Pigwidgeon?" George asked.

"No, he's off delivering a letter," Ron said, "Why?"

"Because George wants to invite him to the ball," Fred said sarcastically.

"Because we want to send a letter, you stupid prat," George said.

"Who'd you keep writing to, eh?" Ron asked.

"Nose out Ron, or I'll burn that off too." _**(AN: and then he'll look exactly like Voldemort! Sorry, I had to do it... on with the story)**_Fred said, waving his wand threateningly. "So... you lot got dates for the Yule Ball yet?"

"Nope," Fang said.

"Well, you better get a move on before all the good ones are taken," George said.

"Who are you going then?" Ron asked.

"Angelina," Fred said without a trace of embarrassment.

"What?" Ron said, taken aback. "You've already asked her?"

"Good point," Fred said. He turned his head and called across the common room, "Oi, Angelina!"

Angelina, who had been talking to Katie Bell near the fire, looked over at him. "What?" she called back.

"Want to go to the Yule Ball with me?"

Angelina gave Fred an appraising sort of look. "All right then," she said, grinning, and turned back to Katie.

"There you go," Fred said, turning back to us, "piece of cake." He got to his feet, yawning, and said, "We'd better go us a school owl then, George, come on."

They left. Ron stopped feeling his eyebrows and looked across the smoldering wreck of his card castle at Harry, Fang and Iggy.

"We really should get a move on you know... ask someone. He's right. We don't want to end up going with a pair of trolls."

Me and Hermione stared at Ron, our eyes wide. "A pair of _what?" _I asked, glaring at Ron.

"Well- you know," Ron said, shrugging. "I'd rather go alone than with- with Eloise Midgen, say."

"Her acne's loads better today- and she's so nice!" Hermione said.

"Her nose if off-center," Ron said. I glared at him. "You're kidding," I said. "You wouldn't go with her because her nose is off-center?" Ron nodded, looking like it was the most natural thing in the world.

"I see," Hermione said hotly, "So basically you're going to take the best looking girl you can find, even if she's completely horrible?"

"That sounds around right, yeah," Ron said.

"I'm going to bed," Hermione snapped, and she swept off towards the girls dormitory without another word.

I went up after her, and when I ran up the stairs, I sensed that someone else had followed me. I turned around and saw both Nudge and Ginny coming up the stairs after me. "We saw Hermione running up here. Is she okay?" Ginny asked.

I nodded. "She's fine. Ron was just being a jerk."

I walked into our dormitory and found Hermione lying on her bed, looking furious but confused. "You okay?" I asked, sitting beside her.

"Ron can be so annoying sometimes," she huffed. "I can't believe he's so shallow."

"He'll get over himself and when he has no date for the ball he'll realize that he shouldn't only go for the girls who are pretty. He'll realized that he'd be happy with any nice girl that likes hanging out with him," Nudge said.

"The only girls that like hanging out with him are us and Angel... and I don't even like hanging out with him all the time," I said.

Hermione smiled and rolled her eyes. Then she suddenly blushed a deep, deep red.

"What?" Ginny asked, staring at Hermione with an amused look.

"Nothing," Hermione said, a bit too fast, blushing even more.

"What is it? You're redder then a tomato," I said, grinning at my best friend. We all started poking her until she said, "Fine! Fine, I'll tell you."

We stared at her and she took a deep breath. "I'm going to the Yule Ball," she said quickly.

"Well, we all knew that. We're all going to the ball. Well, unless someone asks me, I can't go..." Nudge trailed off, looking disappointed.

"No. I meant I'm going to the Yule Ball...with someone," Hermione said, her face so red I thought it would set the room on fire.

"Who?" we all shouted, jumping on the bed.

"Em..." Hermione said, staring at her shoes.

"If you say Malfoy I will walk out of this room and never look back," I said, sitting back.

"It's not Malfoy!" Hermione said, giggling. "It's Krum."

We stared at her, completely silent. Then at the same time we erupted in an explosion on noise. "That's amazing!"

"He actually asked you? When? Where?"

"I can't believe this! You're going to be so cute together at the ball! You're so damn lucky!"

Hermione just looked down at her shoes, smiling.

The Hogwarts staff seemed determined to impress the Durmstrang and Beauxbatons students by decorating the school the best it's ever been for Christmas. When the decorations went up, I noticed that they were the most stunning I've ever seen in the castle. Everlasting icicles hung from the banisters of every staircase; the usual twelve Christmas trees were hung up in the Great Hall were covered in holly berries and real, gold, hotting owls and the suits of armor had all been bewitched to sing Christmas carols whenever someone passed them. It was really something to hear "O Come, All Ye Faithful" sung by an empty helmet that only knew half of the words. More then once, Filch had to take Peeves out of inside the armor, because he had been hiding in them and filling the gaps of the songs with his own lyrics, and all of them were very rude, but I found them hysterical.

And still, I didn't have a date for the Yule Ball. There were still loads of boys that asked me, but I all told them no. I don't know what I was waiting for, I just didn't want to go with any of them. The boys were getting really nervous now, because they still didn't have dates either, though I did point out that they would all look a lot less stupid then Harry if they didn't have dates- Harry had to dance in front of everyone, and if he didn't ask someone soon, he'd be dancing on his own.

"I suppose there's always Moaning Myrtle," he said gloomily.

"We've just got to grit our teeth and do it," Ron said in a tone that made it sound like they were planning on breaking down the Great Wall of China. "When we come back to the common room tonight, the four of us will have partners- agreed?"

"Agreed."

I still didn't know why none of them asked me or Hermione, or Ginny or Nudge, to go with them. Well, of course, Hermione was taken but we were the only ones that knew that. She didn't want anyone to know, especially the boys.

All that day, I kept seeing Ethan wherever I went. He'd been avoiding me since the night of the Eraser attack and every time I tried talking to him, he'd make some excuse and walk away. After the article was published, and the pictures of us kissing were in the newspaper, Ethan had been getting some hassle as well, but no where near as much as we were. But he still wouldn't talk to me.

But today, it seemed like he was following me everywhere.

The six of us were walking down to Potions when I heard someone say, "Max? Can we talk?"

I turned around and saw Ethan standing in the emptying Entrance Hall, looking awkward and nervous. "Okay," I said. He was probably going to tell me that we shouldn't be friends anymore and that I should leave him alone. I looked back at the others. "Tell Snape that I was feeling sick and I'll be there in a few minutes," I said. They nodded, and I saw Harry giving Ethan a weird look before disappearing into the dungeons.

"What do you want?" I asked.

Ethan looked around at the now empty entrance hall. "I wanted to apologise about the way I was acting. I was a git," he said.

"Took you this long to notice that?" I said, crossing my arms. I couldn't believe it took me until now to realize that I was mad at him. I saved his butt from Erasers, then I tell him my life story, then he kisses me, then ignores me.

"No, I realized that I was a jerk as soon as I walked away from you at the lake," Ethan said.

"Then how come you've been ignoring me since then?" I asked. I didn't have the energy to be sarcastic and witty.

"Because I was afraid that you wouldn't want to talk to me after what I did," he said. "I'm really sorry."

I just stared at him.

"And I have something to ask you," he went on, blushing a little bit.

"Well spit it out," I said when he didn't say anything for a few minutes.

"Will you go to the Yule Ball with me?" he asked quickly, staring at his shoes.

Without even thinking about it, I said, "I'd love to. Meet me in the Entrance Hall before it starts." Ethan beamed, then leaned in and kissed my cheek. I grinned like a loon, hoping he wouldn't notice me blushing.

"It's a date," he said, smiling, before walking back up the marble staircase.

I couldn't concentrate on Snape's stupid antidotes test, but luckily I didn't forget to add the key ingredient- a bezoar. But unluckily, Harry did forget to add a bezoar, which meant he got bottom marks, but he didn't seem to care. As soon as the bell rang, Harry grabbed his bag, said, "I'll meet up at dinner!" and ran out of the dungeons.

"Where's he going?" Iggy asked, staring after Harry.

"Probably to ask Cho Chang to the ball," Ron said. My stomach twisted at his words, but I ignored it. I was hungry, that was all.

"Hey guys," we heard someone say behind us. It was Neville. He was looking nervous about something.

"Hey Neville," Hermione said.

"Can I talk to you?" he asked suddenly, looking at Hermione. Hermione seemed confused, but nodded anyway. Neville and Hermione walked over to the door, where we couldn't hear them. I saw Hermione blush after Neville said something, then she shook her head and said something to him. Neville looked a bit disappointed, but smiled anyway, and walked out of the classroom.

"Did Neville just ask you to the ball?" I asked Hermione, starting to feel really bad for him.

Hermione nodded. "He asked if we could go as friends, because I'm always helping him in potions. I told him I couldn't."

"Why couldn't you?" Fang asked.

"That's none of your business," Hermione said.

Suddenly, a light-bulb went off in my head. "I'll be back in a minute," I said, and I ran after Neville.

"Hey, Neville! Wait," I said as I caught up with him. He turned around and smiled when he saw me. "Hi Max," he said.

"You just asked Hermione to the ball?" I said, even though I knew the answer. Neville nodded, frowning. "Well, she can't go with you because she's going with someone else. But I know someone who you can go with. But she's in second year. Does that matter?"

Neville shook his head. "No, I just want to go with someone as a friend. I don't want a proper date."

"Perfect," I said. "Go ask Nudge. She really wants to go, and you get on well, don't you?"

Neville smiled. "Yeah, Nudge is great. Thanks Max," and he walked into the Great Hall, heading towards Nudge and her friends. I saw him sit down beside Nudge and whisper something to her. She smiled and nodded, and Neville beamed. He looked back at me and gave me the thumbs-up. I smiled at him.

"What did you do?" Ron asked, as the others joined me at the doors to the Great Hall.

"I got Neville a partner to the ball," I said, smiling smugly.

We were just going to walk into the Great Hall when a group of Hufflepuff girls that were in our year walked passed us. Just before walking through the door, Iggy said, "I'll be back in a minute," and he walked over to the Hufflepuff girls. "What's he doing?" Hermione asked. But her question was answered when we saw Iggy go right up to Susan Bones. We couldn't hear what he said, but Susan smiled and nodded. Iggy grinned at her, said something else that made her laugh, then walked back to us.

"What did you do?" Fang asked.

"Got myself a partner for the ball," Iggy said.

"Right, my turn now," Fang said. He looked around the Great Hall, and did his little mini grin when he spotted someone. "I guess I could ask Ginny. I mean, how else would she get into the ball?" Then he turned to Ron. "You don't mind, do you?" Ron shook his head. "Just don't snog her and I'm fine with it." Fang nodded and walked over to Ginny at the Gryffindor table.

I turned back to Ron. "Your turn," I grinned.

Ron looked around the entrance hall, and stopped when he saw that Fleur Delacour was talking to Cedric over in the corner. He walked over to her, but he wasn't exactly beside her.

"He isn't doing what I think he's doing, is he?" I said, looking at Hermione. She just shrugged, looking like she was trying not to laugh.

"Want to go to the ball with me?" Ron said, loud enough for half the Hall to hear. Fleur just stared at him as if he were something she found on her shoe. Ron paled, probably realizing what he just did, and then he ran up the marble staircase while the people in the hall laughed. Fang and Ginny came out of the Great Hall to see Ron sprint up the stairs.

"Let's follow him," I said.

We ran after him all the way back to the common room. When we walked in, we found Ron sitting in a chair in the corner, ashen-faced. We went over to him and sat beside him, trying to comfort him. He looked like he was going to get sick.

A few minutes later, the portrait hole opened and Harry came in, looking really disappointed. I guess he was too late for Cho.

"What's wrong, Ron?" Harry asked, sitting with us.

Ron just looked up at Harry, blind horror all over his face.

"Why did I do it?" he asked wildly, for the tenth time, "I don't know what made me do it!"

"What?" asked Harry.

"He- er- just asked Fleur Delacour to go to the ball with him," Ginny explained. She looked like she was fighting back a smile. To be honest, we all were.

"You what?"

"I don't know what made me do it!" Ron gasped again. "What was I playing at? There were people- all around- I've gone mad- everyone watching! She was just standing there, talking to Diggory! Something just came over me, and I asked her!"

Ron moaned and dropped his head into his hands. He kept talking, but his words were more mumbled.

"She looked at me as if I was some kind of sea slug! Didn't even answer- and then, I dunno- just sort of came to my senses and ran for it!"

"She's part veela," Harry said and we all stared at him. "You were right- her grandmothers one. It wasn't your fault. I bet you just saw her when she putting on the old charm for Diggory. She was wasting her time, though. He's going with Cho."

Ron looked up from his hands.

"I asked her to go with me just now," Harry said, staring at the carpet. "She told me."

"This is mad," Ron said. "We're the only two without dates. Those two got ones," he pointed at Fang and Iggy, who grinned smugly. "And even Neville got one. But guess who he asked first? Hermione!"

"What?" Harry asked.

"Yeah, I know," Ron said, some of the color coming back into his face. "He asked her after Potions! Told her she's really nice and always helping him potions and other stuff- but she said no. Wouldn't tell us why though."

"Because it's none of your business," Hermione said. "Well, all the good ones are taken, right Ron? Eloise Midgen starting to look really pretty, now isn't she? I'm sure you'll find someone somewhere who will go with you."

But Ron was just staring at Hermione as if he's never seen her before.

"Hermione- Neville's right, you are a girl," he said. And then he looked at me. "And Max is one too!"

"Well spotted," I said acidly.

"Well- you two came come with us!" Ron said. Yeah, I never actually told any of them except for Hermione what Ethan wanted, and that we were going to the Yule Ball together.

"No, we can't," Hermione said.

"Oh, come on," Ron said, "we need partners, we're going to look really stupid if we don't have any, everyone else has..."

"We can't go with you," I said, blushing slightly, "because we're already going with other people."

"No, you're not!" Ron said. "You probably just said that to get rid of Neville," then he looked at me again, "and I don't know what your excuse is. You've said no to every boy that asked you."

Hermione stood up, "Just because it's taken you three years to notice, Ron, doesn't mean no one else has noticed that we're girls."

Ron stared at her. Then he grinned.

"Okay, okay, I know you're a girl," he said. "Go with one of us now?"

"I've already told you, I'm going with someone else!" and Hermione stormed off to the girls dormitory.

"She's lying," Ron said as he watched her go.

"She isn't," me and Ginny said at the same time.

"Who's she going with then?"

"Not telling you, it's her business," Ginny said.

"Right," Ron said, who was looking completely put out, "this is getting stupid. Look, Max, you go with Harry-"

"I can't, because I'm already going with someone," I said through clenched teeth.

"Who?" Harry asked.

"Ethan," I said, my face red.

"But he's been ignoring you for ages. Why are you going with him?" Harry asked.

"That's none of your business," I said copying Hermione. But Harry wasn't listening to me. He was staring at Parvati and Lavender, who had just walked in through the portrait hole.

"Wait here," he said and walked over to them. I heard him ask, "Parvati, will you go to the ball with me?"

Parvati giggled, then said, "Yes, alright then."

"Thanks," Harry said. "Lavender- will you go with Ron?"

"She's going with Seamus," Parvati said, and the two of them went into a fit of giggles.

"Can't you think of anyone to go with Ron?" Harry asked, lowering his voice so that Ron couldn't hear, but I still could.

"What about Hermione?" Lavender asked.

"She's going with someone else."

"Ooooohh, who?" Parvati asked.

"No idea," Harry said, "so what about Ron?"

"Well..." Parvati said slowly, "I suppose my sister might...Padma, she's in Ravenclaw...I'll ask her for you if you like."

"Yeah, that would be great," Harry said. "Let me know."

Then Harry sat back down with us. This ball was seriously a lot more trouble then it was worth. I just hope Padma's nose was right on center.

* * *

><p><em><strong>And here it is! The article! Now everyone knows about them! Sorry if the article was kinda bad, I'm not that good at writing newspaper articles. <strong>_

_**Anyway, hope the chapter was good and that everyone liked it! **_

_**I also want to wish the families affected by the theater shooting in Colorado my best. That shooting was uncalled for and just horrible. R.I.P those who died. **_

_**And I have so much respect for Christian Bale right now. He actually visited the victims of the shooting in hospital, without alerting the press or media. He really is a hero 3 **_

_**when you review, you get cookies and butterbeer so...**_

_**REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW! **_

_**-Rach ;)**_


	20. The Yule Ball

_**AUTHORS NOTE! :P**_

_**I AM SO SORRY PLEASE DON'T HATE ME! **_

_**I'm so sorry that it's been ages that I updated, but I have a lot on my mind and a lot of drama.**_

_**You see, my best friend is moving to the other side of the country in a few days, and I won't be able to see her everyday like I used to... I know Ireland isn't that big, but it's still depressing that she won't be in school anymore, or in town with us during the week, or I won't be able to just go to her house anytime I needed to if I had to talk to her, and she's really depressed about it because she doesn't want to leave and she's grounded for six months for not talking to her mother and doing rebellious thing's involving spray painting her bedroom because she doesn't want to go and I don't want to go and whenever I think of her not sitting beside me in class with my other friends, I feel like crying... anyone else know the feeling? This is the first time a friend of mine has moved so far away and I don't really know what to do about it. Any advice?**_

_**I know other people have much worse problems then this, but this is the first time it's ever happened to me and I'm going to miss her so much, but I do know that there are people with much worse problems. **_

_**I'm really sorry guys, please don't be mad :( and thanks for reading that, I haven't really been able to talk about it much with my other friends because I'm not an emotional person... I like to keep my feelings to myself. Anyway...**_

_**Now that that is off my chest, I shall answer some reviews... OH YEAH we got to 200 reviews! And more! Thank you all so much! And this chapter is dedicated to Quail Sandwich, who was the 200th review! Thanks! **_

_**BlackSwan707: you've got them :)**_

_**ChopSuzi: yup ;)**_

_**SevLoverKat: Tell me about it haha :) but he'll come to his senses...**_

_**Arkell26: well, yeah but Rita had pictures and everything so they kinda had to believe her, I suppose. Well, the Weasley's and Gazzy and Angel are going to be like the rest of the flock, confused and angry about the whole thing. Yeah, the Weasley's know that Sirius is Max's dad, but they don't really believe that he is innocent just yet. Don't worry, I love long reviews :) **_

_**Pyro and Darnet co: yeah, I kept it that way because I thought it was hilarious!**_

_**Green Nook: no, Hogwarts believe it because there were pictures with the article. **_

_**jdr ride: haha I'm not getting sick of you! I love your reviews. Well yeah, it did kinda die down a bit, but it's gonna kick up again soon. Yup, this is the ball :) **_

_**Shan Shan: I always read the reviews, and I respond to them on the chapters :) they're gonna be a couple soon, don't worry :)**_

_**florafan199914: it really was horrible :/ and it's lucky you didn't go. **_

_**Annie Bell: they'll be more shocked in this chapter then the last one. Something like that will be happening in this chapter, or the next one. **_

_**Thanks for the favorites, alerts and reviews and all that stuff :) I love you guys!**_

_**Now, on with the chapter! Have fun at the Yule Ball! **_

_**-Rach ;)**_

* * *

><p><em><strong>Max's POV<strong>_

Being famous sucked. Everywhere the flock went, people were staring at us, asking if we'd show them our wings, asking if it hurt, asking how we deal with everything that happened to us... It was endless. How Harry got through this is first-year was a mystery to me.

"It's alright, they'll get something else to talk about soon," he kept saying whenever someone was openly staring at us, or shouting at us. Most of the hateful comments had stopped, and now it was all questions or staring. The Slytherins were still calling us freaks every chance they got.

What made it worse was that a few days after the article came out, McGonagall held us back after a Transfiguration class. "Is something wrong, Professor?" Fang asked. Ever the mannerly one.

"I wanted to talk to you about the recent article that revealed your- er, secret," McGonagall said, looking concerned. Before any of us could say anything, the door of the classroom opened, and Nudge walked in. She saw us and let out a relieved smile. She probably thought that she had been in trouble.

"Miss Weasley, I was just saying that I wanted to discuss that article," McGonagall explained.

"Alright, Professor. Well, we didn't tell Skeeter anything, she just figured it all out on her own, but we don't know how. I mean, we don't really get how she knew all about the School and all the sciencey words, because I thought wizards didn't know that much about Muggle things like science and medicine and-"

"I am aware that none of you told Miss Skeeter about your wings," McGonagall said, cutting Nudge off. Nudge didn't seem too bothered by it- she was used to it by now.

"Then what is there to talk about?" I asked, turning back to my teacher.

"I wanted to ask how you are doing," McGonagall said, taking us by surprise. "It must be hard for everyone to know the secret that you've been keeping your whole lives."

We looked around at each other, not sure what to say. Yeah, it's been hard, and more then once I've wanted to punch people multiple times in the face, but it was nothing the flock couldn't handle. I thought to the letter we got yesterday morning from Mrs Weasley, telling us not the let it bother us and to keep strong and that she was going to kill Skeeter next time she saw her. There had also been letters from the Gasman and Angel, both of them basically saying that they weren't going to let it get to them, but they were still angry it had happened.

"We're able to handle it," I said finally.

"We all know that you lot are well able to handle just about anything," McGonagall said, raising an eyebrow. "But you are all stronger then most of the students in this school. You are different and that is something you should take pride in. Don't let this affect you, because it will all be over soon and then everything will back to normal."

We stared at each other, then I said, "Thanks, Professor."

McGonagall grinned kindly. "Now go to your next class before you receive detention. I walked out of the classroom with the flock, smiling for the first time in days, and I didn't have the urge to punch someone.

Despite the mountain load of homework we were given for the holidays, I was not in the mood to work when term ended and spent the week leading up to Christmas trying to enjoy myself and ignore the staring (which I noticed wasn't as bad as before). Gryffindor tower was even more crowded now then it had been before the holidays, and everyone was louder then usual, but that didn't bother me. As long as the flock wasn't the center of attention, I didn't care what happened.

Fred and George had had a great success with the Canary Creams, and for the first couple days of the holidays, people kept bursting into feather randomly all over the common room. It wasn't long before people started getting cautious with the food people gave them, in case Fred and George had done something to it.

Snow had started to fall thickly upon the castle and it's grounds now, and I had nothing to worry about for Christmas. I had everyone's presents bought, and the Weasley's, Angel's and the Gasman's were sent to the Burrow for them. The pale blue Beauxbatons carriage looked like a frosted pumpkin beside the iced gingerbread house that was Hagrid's cabin, while the Durmstrang ship's portholes were glazed with ice. The house-elves down in the kitchen were outdoing themselves with rich, warming stews and savory puddings and even chocolate-chip cookies that tasted like there were angels dancing in your mouth. These were officially the best cookies in the world. I seriously had to get more of these soon.

Only Fleur Delacour had anything to complain about.

"It is all too 'eavy, all zis 'Ogwarts food," we heard her saying grumpily as we left the Great Hall behind her (Ron hiding beside Iggy). "I will not fit into my dress!"

"Oooh, that's a real tragedy," Hermione snapped as Fleur went out into the entrance hall. "She really thinks a lot of herself, that one, doesn't she?"

"Hermione- who are you going to the ball with?" Ron asked.

He kept springing this question on her, and on me, Nudge and Ginny as well, hoping that one of us would tell him who Hermione was going with. However, Hermione just frowned and said, "I'm not telling you. You'll just make fun of me."

"You're joking, Weasley!" said Malfoy from behind us. "You're not telling me that someone actually asked that to the ball? Not that big-toothed Mudblood?"

I turned around and snarled, "No one is telling you anything, Malfoy. At least we all have partners. Who are you going with? Crabbe? Or Goyle?"

Malfoy glared at me, then smiled. "You mean to say that you got a partner too, Ride? Who would ask a freak like you to go to the ball with them? Someone really desperate, I'm guessing-" Before I could punch him right in the middle of his stupid face, someone beat me to it. It was Fang.

Malfoy flew back onto the ground, hard, and touched his lip were it was split open and bleeding from where Fang had hit him.

"We're not the freaks, Malfoy," Fang said.

He started walking towards the staircase, but before he got too far, Malfoy was back on his feet and he looked like he was going to charge at Fang when Hermione stepped in between them and said brightly, looking over Malfoy's shoulder, "Hello, Professor Moody!"

Malfoy paled and jumped back, looking around wildly for Professor Moody, but he was still up at the staff table, finishing his dinner.

"Twitchy little ferret, aren't you, Malfoy?" Hermione said scathingly, and we all went up the staircase, laughing loudly.

"Hermione, that was just pure genius," I laughed, clutching my sides.

"Hermione," Ron said, looking at her sideways, frowning, "your teeth..."

"What about them?" she said, avoiding looking at me. Ron had just noticed that Hermione's teeth were smaller.

"They're different... I've just noticed..."

"Of course they are. You didn't expect me to keep those fangs Malfoy gave me," Hermione said. Then she looked over at Fang and said, "Er- no offence, Fang."

Fang grinned. "My name is amazing, I don't care." We laughed, but Ron still looked bothered.

"No, I mean, they're different to how they were before Malfoy hexed you. They're all straight... straight and- and- normal-sized."

Hermione smiled mischievously and I rolled my eyes.

"Well...when I went to Madam Pomfrey to get them shrunk, she held up the mirror and told me to stop her when they were back to the size they were," she said. "And I just...let her carry on for a bit." She smiled even more widely. "Mum and Dad won't be too pleased. They wouldn't let me use magic to shrink them, even though I've been trying to persuade them for ages, but they want me to keep wearing my braces at night. You know, they're dentists, so they don't think that magic and teeth should- look! Pigwidgeon's back!"

Ron's tiny owl was twittering madly at the top of the stairs, two scrolls of parchment tied to his leg. People passing him were pointing and laughing, and a group of third-year girls passed and, "Oh look at the weeny owl! Isn't he cute?"

"Stupid little feathery git!" Ron hissed, hurrying up the stairs and snatching Pig. "You bring letters to the addressee! You don't hang around showing off!"

Pig hooted happily, sticking his head out of Ron's fist. The third-years looked shocked.

"Clear off!" Ron snapped at them, waving the fist holding Pig, who hooted more happily than ever as he soared through the air. "Here- take this," Ron said, handing me the letters he untied from Pig's leg as the third-year girls scuttled off looking scandalized. One of the letters were for Harry, and the other one was for me. I handed Harry the one for one and pockeded my letter. We hurried back to Gryffindor Tower to read the letters.

Everyone in the common room was too busy in letting off more holiday steam to notice what anyoen else was up to. We sat apart from everyone else by a dark window that was gradually filling up with snow, and Harry read out his letter.

Dear Harry,  
>Congratulations on getting past the Horntail. Whoever put your name in the goblet shouldn't be feeling too happy now! I was going to suggest a Conjunctivitus Curse, as a dragon's eyes are it's weakest point- "That's what Krum did!" Hermione whispered. Harry read on.<p>

But your way was better, I'm impressed. Don't get complacent, though, Harry. You've only done one task; whoever put you in for the tournament's got plenty more opportunity if they're trying to hurt you. Keep you eyes open- particularly when the person we discussed is around and concentrate on keeping yourself out of trouble.  
>Keep in touch, I still want to hear about anything unusual. Give everyone my best.<br>Sirius.

"He sounds like Moody," Harry said quietly, putting the letter into his pocket. `"Constant vigilance!' You'd think I walk around with my eyes shut, banging off walls..."

"He's right though, Harry," Hermione said, "you have still got two tasks to do. You really ought to have a look at that egg, you know, and start working out what it means..."

"Hermione, he's got ages!" snapped Ron. "What does your letter say, Max?"

I took out my letter, and read it out quietly.

Dear Max,  
>Don't worry about what Rita Skeeter wrote, I didn't believe a word of it anyway. I hope no one is giving the flock any hassle about the wings, or hassling you because I'm your father. But you and the flock are strong, you'll get over this in no time, and sooner or later people will have other things to talk about. Watch Harry's back, and your own; some people could be more interested in the flock then they should be, so be careful.<br>I'll see you soon sweetheart, and we'll talk then, I promise.  
>Sirus.<p>

"I agree with Harry," I said, trying to hide my relief that Sirius didn't actually believe that I hated him. "He sounds exactly like Moody."

"But he has a point," Fang said. "Who knows if the whitecoats saw this? They could know where we are right now."

"But the whitecoats are Muggles," Ron said, "How could they read the Daily Prophet?"

"How did they get into the grounds? Into the Forbidden Forest?"

"They could of used some sort of science to get in," Iggy said.

"So they could of read the Daily Prophet," Fang said.

"Want to play chess, Harry?" Ron asked, stopping Fang and Iggy's arguing. "Yeah, sure," Harry said. Hermione gave him a stern look. "Oh come on," Harry said, "How am I supposed to concentrate with all this noise? I won't even be able to hear the bloody thing over this lot."

"Oh, I suppose not," Hermione sighed and we all sat back at watch their chess match. Let's just say that Ron's chess pieces were very violent.

I woke up on Christmas morning feeling more relaxed than I've felt in days. I sat up in bed, and grinned when I saw the pile of presents waiting for me at the end of my bed. Lavender and Parvati were already dressed and they were about to leave the dormitory when the saw I was awake.

"Merry Christmas Max!" they said together. I smiled at them. I may not like them all that much, but they were still sweet girls. They didn't seem all that bothered that I had wings, or that I never told them, but they were fascinated about the wings too. They hadn't asked to see them yet, which I was grateful for.

"Merry Christmas guys," I said, smiling at them. Then I remembered something. "Hey, Parvati, is your sister going to go to the ball with Ron?" I asked.

Parvati giggled. "Yes, she is. She wasn't too pleased about it, probably because she's going with someone she's never really spoken to, but she's just happy enough that she has a partner. Who are you going with again?"

I felt my face go red. "Er... Ethan . You know, in Ravenclaw?"

Lavender and Parvati giggled again. "Oooh, he's cute! You're so lucky, Max, he's so sweet."

"I know," I said, grinning.

"What dress are you wearing?" Lavender asked.

"I don't know what it lookes like yet," I admitted. "Nudge wants it to be a surprise." I tried not to wince at the thought that I was going to be wearing a dress for most of the night.

Lavender and Parvati looked like I just told them I was going to go to the ball in my birthday suit. To be honest, I'd prefer that then to go in a fancy ball dress.

"You don't even know what color it is?"

I shook my head.

"How long it is?"

Another shake of the head.

"That's ridiculous! What if you don't like it?"

I couldn't believe it. I actually laughed at something that Lavender Brown said. "I'm not going to like it if it's the prettiest dress I've ever seen. I don't like dresses."

They stared at me with their mouths slightly open.

"Why don't you like dresses?" Parvati asked.

I shrugged. "I just don't."

They stared at each other, then back at me. "Well, I'm sure you'll look beautiful, Max," they said, then walked out, waving. I shook my head, grinning. They were strange girls, they was no denying.

I looked over at Hermione's bed, and saw that she was still asleep. She had stayed up well into the night reading a book that was bigger then Hagrid's house. I got my pillow and threw it hard onto Hermione's head. She jerked awake, her bushy hair all over the place. When she saw me, she glared. "What?" she asked.

"It's Christmas!" I said, jumping out of bed. "A time for family and presents. So get out of bed."

She rolled her eyes, but she got up all the same. We went over to our presents, and I grabbed the biggest one and opened it. It was from Mr and Mrs Weasley. It was a red Weasley jumper, with a big **M **in the middle, and it had wings around it. With the jumper was a huge amount of homemade mince pies. Angel and the Gasman had bought me a Muggle book series, about teenagers fighting demons and vampires and werewolves. After that was Hermione's gift, a red and gold friendship bracelet that was decorated with the Gryffindor lion, wands, and wings. Along with that, Hermione had gotten me a book about American Quidditch teams. Before opening the rest of my presents, I gave Hermione a quick hug. After that, I opened Hagrid's present. It was a photograph in a handmade, gold frame that was covered in flowers. In the picture was the me, Fang, Iggy, Nudge, Ron, Harry, Hermione and Hagrid, outside his hut. Because it was a magical picture, we were all moving, laughing and walking around the picture, talking to each other. I smiled and left the picture on the table beside my bed.

After that was Sirius' present; he got me a guitar pick with what I was guessing was the Black family crest on the front, and a penknife, that according to his note, could unlock all doors and undo any knot. Iggy got me a bag of things from Zonko's Joke Shop. Fang got me all of my favourite sweets from Honeydukes. Ron got me a poster of the Holyhead Harpies, the all female Quidditch team. Nudge got me a butterfly necklace that I put on over the one I got from Jeb after he died. And lastly, Harry bought me a bag of still hot, delicious looking chocolate-chip cookies. He must of put a spell on them to keep them warm and fresh.

I took one out of the bag and bit into it, savouring the taste. They were amazing. Harry really knew what to get me.

Hermione and I got dressed, my new friendship bracelet around my wrist. When we were down in the common room, we sat with Nudge, who was playing with the charm bracelet I got here we waited for a few minutes before the boys came down the stairs and we went down to breakfast together. After breakfast, we spent most of the morning in the Gryffindor Tower, and I was trying to teach Iggy a few simple songs on the guitar, but he just wasn't paying enough attention, then we returned to the Great Hall for the best lunch I've ever had in my short, messed up life.

We went out into the grounds in the afternoon; the snow was untouched except for the deep trenches made by the Beauxbatons and Durmstrang students. Me, Harry, Fang, Iggy and the Weasley's had a snowball fight, while Hermione and Nudge chose to watch, Nudge telling me it was a bad idea for me to play because my hair would be wet and messy for when she was trying to do it for the ball.

Just after Fred tackled me to the ground and rubbed snow into my hair, Nudge announced that we had to go upstairs and get ready for the ball. I pushed Fred off of me and stuck his head in the snow, then I checked my watch. "It's five o'clock!" I protested. "The ball isn't for another three hours!"

"And we're going to need all the time we have to deal with this," Nudge said, pointing to my hair and all the snow crusted into it.

"Your doing my hair?" I asked, raising my eyebrows. This was going to be torture.

"And your make-up," Nudge said, grabbing my hand and dragging me away towards the castle, Hermione walking beside us.

"Hermione, who are you going with?" Ron called desperately from behind us. Hermione just waved her hand at him.

Nudge dragged me all the way up to Gryffindor tower, refusing to let go of my hand, saying she was afraid I'd run off. Damn, that child knew me too well. The Fat Lady was sitting in her portrait with her friend Violet, and the two of them were drinking. They both giggled when Hermione gave the password. In the common room, we found Ginny, who was talking to some of her third-year friends, but when she saw us she jumped up and followed us up into me and Hermione's dormitory.

"Okay, I'm going to start with Max because she needs the most work. And besides, she can't do it herself," Nudge said to Hermione, who was looking around in her trunk.

"Hey, I'm right here!" I said.

"I know, Max, I know," Nudge said, pushing me down onto my bed. "I'll be right back, I just need to get our dresses and things." Nudge walked out of the dormitory, and I huffed, not looking forward to this at all. I had just planned brushing my hair, maybe pulling it up, then getting my dress off Nudge and meeting Ethan. I didn't think I'd be getting the whole works.

"Max, Ginny, do you think this dress is alright? I haven't shown it to anyone before," Hermione said. I looked over my shoulder and my jaw dropped. It was a gorgeous dress, and it would suite Hermione perfectly. It was a periwinkle-blue colour, hourglass shape, and from the waist down, it cascaded in waves of frilly fabric, the colour darkening more the further it went down, and there was a waist belt. It was beautiful, and Hermione was going to look stunning. _**( AN; I can't really describe clothes, sorry, but it's the same as the one she wears in the movies, but the colour is the same as in the book.)**_

"That's amazing, Hermione," I said.

"You're going to look beautiful."Ginny said. Hermione blushed, smiling, and left the dress on her bed. She then grabbed something else from her trunk. "What's that?" I asked.

"It's called Sleekeazy's Hair Potion," Hermione said, leaving it on her bed. "My hair won't be as busy when I use it. And I think Nudge wants to use some too."

Just then, the door opened and Nudge walked in, with a huge box and two long dress bags, and shoe boxes. How she was carrying them all, I will never know. "Let's get down to business," Nudge said, grinning evilly as she took some sort of torture machine from the box. Merlin, save me.

Nearly two and a half hours later, we all had our hair and make-up done, and the only thing left to do was to put on our dresses. Nudge hadn't shown us either mine or hers, because she wanted it to be a big surprise. And now the time has come.

"Okay, mine first," Nudge said. She was grinning happily. She took the first dress bag and raced into the bathroom, beaming. Nudge came out a few minutes later, and she looked beautiful. Her hair was done in an elegant side bun at the back of her head, held up with numerous pins. Her dress was pink, knee length and strapless, with a flowy skirt and a tight bodice. Her make-up was simple but flattering, the way Nudge had done on me, Hermione and Ginny as well.

"You look gorgeous," Hermione said, smiling.

"You look amazing," I agreed.

Nudge smiled. "I know!" she squealed. "Okay, Hermione go put on your dress." Hermione took her dress from her bed and went into the bathroom while Nudge did the finishing touches to my hair. A few minutes later, Hermione came out, wearing her dress. I was right, she did look stunning. It fitted her figure perfectly, but it wasn't revealing too much. Her hair was twisted up in a knot at the side of her head with sparkling clips all over her hair. Hermione blushed as me, Ginny and Nudge staring at her, but she was grinning all the same.

"My turn!" Ginny said, grabbing her dress and going into the bathroom. She came out after a few minutes in a strapless light blue dress that had a sparkling belt around the waist. Her flaming red hair was curled, flowing around her shoulders.

"You all look so beautiful," I said.

"And so do you, and you'll look even better when you have your dress on," Nudge said, handing me the last dress bag. "Go put it on."

I took the dress into the bathroom and unzipped the bag. I couldn't really make out what it was like in the bag, but it was a dark blue colour. At least it wasn't pink.

I pulled the dress on and walked out of the bathroom, not wanting to look at what the dress was like in case I didn't look as beautiful as the other girls.

"Oh my Merlin, Max, you look amazing!" Ginny said while Hermione and Nudge stared at me.

"Really?" I asked, starting to feel uncomfortable in the full-length dress.

"Ethan's going to be impressed," Nudge said.

"Ethan? No one's going to recognize her! She's going to be the most beautiful girl in the ball," Hermione said. "Look for yourself, Max," she said, dragging me over to the mirror that was beside the door.

I really did look different. My hair was done in a bun at the back of my head, with braids running along the side of my head, and my fringe was pinned to the side.

My dress was amazing. I never thought I'd actually like a dress on me, but I loved this one. It was dark blue with spaghetti straps and a black sash around the waist, and from the waist down it flowed out a small bit from the tight waist. But that was when I noticed my wings. They were completely visible, and I couldn't hide them in the dress. I turned around and noticed that you could see Nudge's tawny wings through her dress as well.

"I know," Nudge said, sensing what I was thinking. "But I think this is the perfect opportunity to show people that we don't care that they know about our wings, that we're over it."

I stared at Nudge. She had really grown up a lot since coming to Hogwarts. And she was absolutely right. This was the perfect opportunity for people to see that we didn't care.

"You're right. This should be fun," I said, staring at my wings that you could see over my shoulders.

"Oh, I almost forgot your shoes!" Nudge said, picking up one of the shoe boxes. The other one was empty.

"Nudge, if this are heels I will kill you," I said, staring at the shoe box as if it would bite me.

"There only small heels. You won't even notice that they are heels," Nudge said, opening the box and handing me black heels. I glared at her, but took the heels anyway and put them on. I had to admit, they were cute. The heel was very small, and they were all straps with little black bows going up the front.

"Are we ready to go down to the common room?" Hermione asked. I looked at myself one more time in the mirror and nodded. I was actually kind of excited.

We walked out of the dormitory and down to the common room. It looked quite strange, full of people wearing different colours instead of the usual black. When people saw me and Nudge with our wings out, silence feel and a few gasps filled the room. I tried not to glare at anyone as they stared at my wings, but if I wanted everyone to know that I didn't care what they thought, this had to be done without any reaction.

I saw Parvati, obviously waiting for Harry, looking very pretty. She was wearing a dress of shocking pink with her long dark hair pulled into a long braid. When she saw us, and with me and Nudge with our wings out (well they weren't spread out they were pressed tight to our backs- we didn't want to hit anyone with them) she gasped and said, "Oh my goodness, you all look amazing! I'm so jealous! And your wings are beautiful!" I was surprised that I actually laughed with everyone else, and we stayed talking to her for a few minutes before Nudge and Ginny said that they'd wait in the common room for Fang and Neville. Me and Hermione waved them goodbye and walked towards the portrait hole, thanking people who said we look amazing, and more people were shocked when they saw me with my wings out, but they still said they were awesome. I just wonder if everyone else will be like that.

The entrance hall was packed too, all milling around waiting for eight o'clock to come around, when the doors to the Great Hall would open. It was the same down here as it had been in the common room. When people saw the wings, they'd gasp, or point, or tell me they were pretty. And of course, there were some (cough Slytherin, cough) who shouted that I was a freak, but I found that I didn't care. They could say whatever they wanted, but I didn't care.

Those who were meeting their partners from different Houses, like myself, were edging through the crowd trying to find each other, or in Hermione's case, looking for their partners from different schools.

"Max!" I heard someone call. I turned around and saw Ethan, looking very handsome wearing black robes, his bright hazel eyes seemed even brighter, pushing through the crowd towards us. "Hi Ethan," I said, my face going a bit red.

"You look...so beautiful. You're the prettiest girl at this ball. And your wings make you look even more beautiful," Ethan said, blushing as he said it. I smiled at him, suddenly feeling a tiny bit more comfortable in this dress. That was when Ethan noticed Hermione. "Whoa, you look really different. In a good way," he added, smiling at her.

Hermione laughed, the reduction of the size of her teeth was more obvious now then ever. "Thanks Ethan. I should go find Viktor. The Durmstrang students and their partners have to come in from the front doors before the ball starts. I'll see you in a few minutes!" And with that, Hermione left and it was only me and Ethan.

"Did she say Viktor? As in... Viktor Krum?" Ethan asked.

I nodded. "Yup. He asked her to go with him in the library. Perfect place to ask Hermione anything," I said and Ethan laughed. He was still staring at me.

"What?" I asked, grinning.

"You really do look beautiful," he said, making me smile and blush again.

"You don't look too bad yourself," I said teasingly and Ethan laughed. "Jee, thanks. That means a lot," he said, taking my hand in his. I looked at him, and he actually looked happy, the happiest I've seen him since his sister died.

"Your wings look awesome too, by the way," Ethan said. "Thanks. I just hope everyone else thinks so too," I said, gritting my teeth as a few Slytherins made birds noises as me and Ethan walked past them. Ethan glared at them and let go of my hand, only to put it around my waist instead.

A group of Slytherins came up the steps from their dungeon common room. Malfoy was in the front, wearing dress robes of black velvet with a high collar, which in my opinion made him look like a vicar. Pansy Parkinson was in a very frilly dress of pale pink was clutching Malfoy's arm. Crabbe and Goyle were both wearing green; they resembled moss-coloured boulders, and neither of them, I was pleased to see, managed to get partners.

Me and Ethan spent a few more minutes just talking and laughing. Maybe this ball won't be so bad afterwards.

The oak front doors opened, and everyone turned to see the Durmstrang students entered with Professor Karkaroff. Krum was at the front of the party, and Hermione was holding onto his arm. She looked so different, without her busy hair and the twenty or so books that was always on her back. I saw some people looking at her, mostly Hogwarts students that knew Hermione, but they didn't know it was her.

Over their heads I saw that the lawn had been transformed into a sort of grotto full of fairy lights- meaning that hundreds of actual living fairies were sitting in the rosebushes, and fluttering over the statues of what seemed to be Santa Claus and his reindeer. It was amazing.

Then Professor McGonagall's voice called, "Champions over here please!"

I saw Cedric Diggory, with Cho, and Fleur was with Roger Davis, the Ravenclaw Quidditch captain, Krum with Hermione, who smiled and waved at me, and then I saw Harry, who was wearing black dress robes and looked quite handsome, with Parvati, walking over to McGonagall.

I waved at Harry as he looked around, and when he saw me, he did a double-take. He stared at me, and I smiled at him. He smiled back, but looked away when McGonagall started talking. The champions lined up with their partners in front of the doors to the Great Hall. I looked around for Fang, Iggy, Ron and Nudge but couldn't see them anywhere.

"Alright, everyone into the Hall," McGonagall called. Ethan took my hand again and we walked into the Great Hall.

"Whoa," I said, looking around.

"Yeah," Ethan said, his eyes wide.

The walls of the Great Hall had been covered in sparkling silver frost, with hundreds of garlands if mistletoe and ivy crossing the starry black ceiling. The House tables had disappeared; instead there were hundreds of smaller, round tables spread across the Hall.

I concentrated on not falling over. The heels on these shoes might have been small, but they were still bigger then I was used to and I just hoped I didn't fall over from the hells, or else trip over the end of the dress. We all stood, waiting for the champions to walk in. As soon as everyone was in the Great Hall, that was when the champions came in with their partners, lined in pairs, with McGonagall in the front. Everyone applauded as they walked towards the large round table at the top of the hall, where the judges were sitting.

When Harry walked past me and Ethan, he looked at me, and he was clearly nervous. I smiled at him, giving him the thumbs-up, trying to tell him that he'll be fine. Harry smiled back, and seemed to walk with a bit more confidence then before.

Dumbledore smiled happily as the champions reached the top table, but Karkaroff was watching Krum and Hermione draw closer with a sour expression, as if he was eating a lemon. Ludo Bagman, tonight wearing robes of bright purple with large yellow stars, was clapping as enthusiastically as the students; and Madame Maxime, who had changed from her usual black clothes for a flowing gown of lavender, was applauding politely. But Crouch wasn't there, I suddenly realized. The fifth seat at the table was taken by Percy.

"What is he doing here?" I asked in surprise.

"Who?" Ethan asked.

"The nerdy ginger up at the table. The one Harry's sitting beside," I said as Percy drew back the chair beside him for Harry to sit in. I saw him talking to Harry with a very smug expression. Urgh, he is such a prat.

"Isn't he one of Ron's brothers?" Ethan asked.

"Unfortunately," I said.

Ethan chuckled just as the rest of the students moved to the small round tables. After searching through the crowd for more then five minutes, we finally found Fang, Ginny, Iggy and Susan, and Ron and Padma, Nudge and Neville, and we found an empty table where we all sat down. The plates in front of us didn't have any food on them yet, but there were small menus in front of us, but it didn't seem like anyone was going to come up and take our orders or anything. I looked up at the top table and saw that everyone there were speaking to their menus, and then food would appear on their plates.

Getting the idea, I picked up my menu and looked at it. I decided to eat the pork chops, so I said it to the menu, feeling like an idiot. I mean, I was talking to a freaking menu! But as soon as the words were out of my mouth, food appeared on my plate. It was as delicious as the lunch we had earlier.

While we ate, we had some small talk but the food was too good to keep talking for too long. When everyone had finished eating, Dumbledore stood up and told the students to do the same. Then, with a wave of his wand, the tables zoomed back along the walls, leaving the floor clear, and then he made a raised platform along the right wall. A set of drums, a few guitars, a flute, a cello, and some bagpipes were set on it. My hands itched to play the guitars, but I couldn't because at that moment the Weird Sisters walked onto stage to wildly enthusiastic applause. They picked up their instruments as the champions and their partners were standing up and getting ready to dance.

I saw Harry tripping over his dress robes as he walked out with Parvati. I snickered as the Weird Sisters started playing a slow song. The champions stepped onto the brightly lit dance floor. When Harry walked on with Parvati, me, Fang, Ethan, Iggy, and Nudge started waving at him and laughing. He looked so embarrassed, it was adorable.

I got this weird feeling in my stomach when I saw Harry's hand go on Parvati's waist, and his other hand take Parvati's, and they started dancing. All of the champions were swaying around gracefully, even Harry didn't look too stupid dancing around.

After a few minutes, more people starting going onto the dance floor and joined the champions. Ethan stepped in front of me and held out his hand, raising his eyebrows. I smiled (I seemed to be doing a lot of that tonight) and took Ethan's hand, and he guided me out onto the dance floor. He put on hand on my waist, and took my other hand in his as I put my free hand on his shoulder. To be honest, I didn't really know what I was doing. I was just copying what the other girls were doing.

"Is something wrong?" Ethan asked, sensing my hesitation to actual dance.

"I can't dance," I admitted, staring down at the ground. To my surprise, Ethan just pulled me closer to him. "Don't worry about it. Just follow what I do," he said. Ethan started moving back in forth, and I stared down at my feet, copying what he was doing and making sure I didn't fall over.

"See? You're a natural," Ethan chuckled.

"Well, I do have a wonderful teacher," I said.

"I would like to meet this person," Ethan said seriously.

"He may be a good dancer, but he's very annoying," I said, rolling my eyes.

Ethan stopped dancing and stared at me. "What?" he asked.

I laughed. "I'm kidding. You're not that annoying, I can deal with it. Barely." I grinned at him, letting him know that I was joking. He laughed and started dancing again. I looked around and saw that Nudge and Neville were dancing nearby, and Nudge kept wincing from Neville standing on her feet, but she seemed to be having too much fun to be too bothered by it, and with her wings spread out slightly behind her, she looked like an angel. I wonder if I looked like that as well. When she saw me, she beamed and waved. I waved back and then we were separated in the crowd.

I heard the final note from the bagpipe with relief. The Weird Sisters stopped playing, applause filled the hall again and I stopped moving and looked at Ethan. "Can we sit down for a few minutes? I'm not used to heels."

"Of course," he said, and he led me over to the tables. I spotted Harry and Parvati walking from the crowd towards a table where Ron and Padma were sitting, and I dragged Ethan over to that way.

"Having fun?" I asked, sitting down beside them, and opening a butterbeer. None of them answered. Ron was glaring at Krum and Hermione, who were dancing nearby, Harry was staring down at his hands, looking uncomfortable, or else looking at Cho and Cedric Padma was sitting with her arms and legs crossed, one foot jiggling in time to the music. Every few minutes she would throw a disgusted look at Ron, who was completely ignoring her. Parvati sat next to Harry, her arms and legs crossed too, and within minutes was asked to dance by a Beauxbatons boy.

"You don't mind, do you Harry?" she asked. I stopped listening to what Ethan was saying to hear Harry's response, but he just said, "What?" still staring at Cedric and Cho.

"Oh never mind," she snapped, going with the boy from Beauxbatons. When the song ended, she didn't come back.

I spent the next few minutes talking to Ethan and drinking butterbeer, with Ron and Harry ignoring us. A few minutes later, Hermione came over and sat down in Parvati's empty chair. She was pink in the face from dancing.

"Hi," she said to us.

"Hey," me, Ethan and Harry said, but Ron didn't say anything.

"It's hot isn't it?" Hermione said, fanning herself with her hand. "Viktor's just gone to get some drinks."

"Ron gave her a withering look. "Viktor?" he said. "Hasn't he asked you to call him Vicky yet?"

Hermione looked at him in surprise. "What's up with you?" she asked.

"If you don't know," Ron said scathingly, "I'm not going to tell you."

Hermione stared at him, then at me, then at Harry, and we just shrugged.

"Ron- what-?"

"He's from Durmstrang!" Ron spat. "He's competing against Harry! Against Hogwarts! You- you're-" Ron was clearly searching for the right words to describe Hermione's crime, "fraternizing with the enemy, that's what you're doing!"

Hermione's mouth dropped open.

"Don't be so stupid," she said. "The enemy! Honestly- who was the one who was so excited about him being here? Who was the one who wanted his autograph. Who's got a model of him in his dormitory?"

Ron chose to ignore all of this. "I s'pose he asked you to come with him while you were in library?"

"Yes, he did," Hermione said, the pink patches on her face growing. "So what?"

"What happened- trying to get him to join spew, were you?"

"No, I wasn't! If you really want to know, he- he said he'd been coming to the library everyday to try and talk to me, but he hadn't been able to pluck up the courage!" Hermione said quickly, and blushed the same colour as a tomato.

"Yeah, well- that's his story," Ron said nastily.

"Ron-" I started, knowing where he was going with this, but he ignored me.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Hermione snapped.

"Obvious, isn't it? He's Karkaroff's student, isn't he? He knows who you hang around with... he's just trying to get closer to Harry- get inside information on him- or get near enough to jinx him-"

Hermione looked as if Ron had slapped her. When she spoke, her voice quivered. "For your information, he hasn't even asked me one single thing about Harry, not one-"

Ron changed track at lightening speed.

"Then he's hoping you'll find out what his egg means! I suppose you've been putting your heads together during those cozy little library sessions-"

"I'd never help him work out the egg!" Hermione said, outraged. "Never. How could you say something like that- I want Harry to win this tournament. Harry knows that, don't you Harry?"

"You've got a funny way of showing it," Ron snarled.

"Ron, you're being stupid-" I started again, but Ron wasn't listening.

"This whole tournament is about getting to know foreign wizards and making friends with them!" Hermione snapped, looking close to tears.

"No it isn't!" Ron shouted. "It's about winning!"

People were staring to stare at them.

"Ron," Harry said quietly, "I haven't got a problem with Hermione coming with Krum-"

But Ron wasn't listening to him either.

"Why don't you go and find Vicky, he'll be wondering where you are," Ron said.

"Don't call him Vicky!" Hermione shouted, jumping to her feet and storming across the dance floor. I stood up to follow her, but I couldn't find her anywhere. I turned and glared at Ron. "What the hell is your problem?" I growled.

"I don't have a problem! She's the one going off with a Durmstrang-"

"Vare is Herm-own-ninny?" a voice asked from behind me. It was Krum, and he was holding two bottles of butterbeer. I realized then that it was the first time I've ever actually heard Krum speak.

"No idea," Ron sneered. "Lost her, have you?"

"Veil, if you see her, tell her I haff drinks," he said, giving Ron an odd look before nodding at the rest of us and slouching away. Before I could start shouting at Ron for being a brainless jerk, Padma asked, "Are you going to ask me to dance or not?"

"No," Ron said, glaring after Krum.

Ethan was giving Padma a sympathetic look, and it was then that I realized that they were actually friends, being in the same House and all. I leaned over to Ethan and whispered, "Ask Padma to dance."

He looked at me with a questioning look. "Really?" he asked.

"Yeah go ahead. I'll be fine here. And dancing really isn't my thing," I said.

"Okay, but for one dance. Then I'm coming back to my date," he said. Ethan stood up and asked Padma to dance just as a new song started, and she nodded eagerly, not even looking back at Ron once as they walked onto the dance floor.

Ron was still glaring at everything that moved, and when Percy came over, I thought he was going to explode. I didn't listen to Percy blab on about his fancy new promotion, I just sat looking around. Dumbledore was now dancing with Professor Sprout, Bagman was dancing with McGonagall and Madame Maxime and Hagrid were waltzing around the hall.

"Want to dance?"

I looked up and saw Harry offering me his hand. He looked a bit awkward.

"Really?" I asked.

"Yeah. Ron's about to start shouting at random people for no reason in a few minutes and I don't want to be here when he does," Harry said. I looked over at Ron, and couldn't agree with Harry more. Ron's face matched his hair, and he was giving Percy a death glare that Percy didn't notice because he was still talking about his stupid promotion.

"Sure, why not?" I said, taking Harry's hand. The song the Weird Sisters were playing was relatively slow, but it was still more upbeat then the song at the start. Harry put his arm around my waist and we started dancing, badly. Seeing as neither of us could dance, we didn't know what we were doing. With Ethan, he knew what he was doing, but Harry didn't have a clue and to be honest, I preferred dancing like this.

Dumbledore and Sprout spun passed us, and when Dumbledore saw us dancing together, he winked, his blue eyes twinkling merrily. When they were gone, me and Harry burst out laughing, and we didn't stop until the song ended.

"Well, thank you for the dance, Mr Potter," I said in a posh accent, bowing to Harry. He laughed and said, "Oh, the pleasure was all mine, Miss Ride. Care for one more dance?"

I hesitated, looking around for Ethan, but he was still dancing with Padma. "Sure. One more dance."

After the dance, we sat back down with Ron, and Iggy, Susan, Fang, Ginny, Nudge and Neville were sitting there too, taking a break from dancing, but Percy was still there, talking about how it was great that we had made friends with Krum, that the whole point of this was international cooperation and blah blah blah.

"What do they think they're doing, annoying senior Ministry members?" Percy suddenly hissed, and I turned my head to see where he was looking. Fred and George had cornered Bagman and were talking to him. "No respect..."

Bagman shook off Fred and George fairly quickly, however, and spotting Harry, waved and came over to our already cramped table.

"I hope my brothers weren't bothering you, Mr Bagman?" Percy said at once.

"What? Oh, no not at all!" Bagman said. "No, they were just telling me a bit more about those fake wands of theirs. Wondering if I could give them advice on marketing them. I've promised to put them in touch with a few contacts of mine at Zonkos Joke Shop..."

Percy didn't look happy about this at all, and I just knew that he was going to be telling Mrs Weasley about it the moment he got back to the Burrow.

Bagman opened his mouth to ask Harry something, but Percy got there first. Of course he did.

"How do you think the tournament's going, Mr Bagman? Our department is quite satisifed- the hitch with the Goblet of Fire-" he glanced at Harry, who frowned- "was a little unfortunate, of course, but it seems to have gone very smoothly since, don't you think?"

"Oh yes," Bagman said cheerfully. "it's been enormous fun. How's old Barty doing? Shame he couldn't come."

"Oh I'm sure Mr Crouch will up and about in no time, but in the meantime I'm more then happy to take up the slack-" and then we went off talking about everything he had to do since Crouch became sick. I just wanted to bang my head against the table, but before I could, Iggy said, "Let's go for a walk. Get away from Percy." Susan, Neville and Ginny chose to stay in the hall, where they were warm, but Nudge decided to come with us.

When we got to the doors, I looked over my shoulder to see where Ethan went. I saw him walking over to our table, and then I saw Padma dancing with a Beauxbaton boy. Ginny pointed towards where we were, and I waved him over. He walked over to us and said, "Sorry but Padma just wanted to dance so I danced with her longer then I thought. Where are you going?"

"For a walk," Fang said simply. Ethan nodded, stepping back to walk beside me. We slipped out into the entrance hall. The front doors stood open and the fluttering fairy lights in the rose garden winked and twinkled as we went down the stone steps, where we found ourselves surrounded by bushes, winding ornamental paths and large stone statues. I could hear splashing water, which sounded like a fountain. There were people sitting on carved benches all over the place. We walked down one of the paths through the rosebushes, but we had only gone a short way when we heard a familiar voice. And not one we like to hear.

"...don't see what all the fuss is about, Igor."

"Severus, you cannot pretend that this isn't happening!" Karkaroff's voice sounded anxious and hushed, like he didn't want to be overhead. Oh well, too bad. "It's been getting clearer and clearer for months. I am getting seriously concerned, I won't deny it-"

"Then flee," Snape said curtly. "Flee- I will make your excuses. I, however, shall remain at Hogwarts."

Snape and Karkaroff came around the corner. Snape raised his wand and I tensed all over, but instead of pointing it at us, he blasted a rosebush apart, his expression ill-natured. There were squeals from the bushes and dark figures emerged from them.

"Ten points from Ravenclaw, Fawcett!" Snape snarled as a girl ran past him. "And ten points from Hufflepuff too, Stebbins!" as a boy went rushing after the girl. "And what are all of you doing?" he asked, finally seeing us. Karkaroff looked slightly discomposed to see us standing there. His hand went nervously to his goatee and he began winding it around his finger.

"We're walking," I said, "Not against the law, is it?"

"Then keep walking!" Snape snarled, and he brushed past us, his long black cloak billowing out behind him, making him look like a bat. Karkaroff gave us a fleeting look, then hurried off after Snape and we continued down the path.

"What's got Karkaroff all worried?" Ron muttered.

"And since when have him and Snape been on first-name terms?" Harry said slowly.

We reached the stone reindeer, over which we could see the jets from the enormous fountain. The shadowy outlines to two huge people were visible on a stone bench, watching the water in the moonlight. I was about to suggest that we go somewhere else and leave those two alone when I heard Hagrid speak.

"Momen' I saw yeh, I knew," he was saying in an oddly husky voice.

We all froze. This definitely wasn't something we should stay and listen to. I looked around, back up the path and saw Fleur and Roger Davis standing half concealed in a rosebush. I tapped Ron on the shoulder and jerked my head towards them, meaning that we could sneak past them without being noticed (they seemed a bit busy) but Ron, with his eyes widening in horror at the sight of Fleur, shook his head furiously and grabbed my hand, pulling me closer into shadows of the reindeer, and the other followed us.

"What did you know, 'Agrid?" said Madame Maxime, a purr low in her voice. I wish I could just turn off my hearing for five minutes and not have to listen to this. I knew that Hagrid would hate to be overheard in a situation like this. I just tried to focus on the beetle that was crawling along the reindeer's back. I frowned, staring at the beetle. Now, this next sentence is going to sound pretty crazy, but I'm a witch that has wings and I have a Voice in my head (which has been pretty quiet lately, now that I think of it) so things are always crazy for me.

But this beetle looked familiar. I know, it's crazy, but the beetle really did look familiar.

But at Hagrid's next words, all thoughts of familiar looking beetles were gone.

"I jus' knew... knew you were like me... Was it yer mother or yer father?"

"I- I don't know what you mean, 'Agrid..."

"It was my mother," Hagrid said quietly. "She was one o' the last ones in Britain. 'Course, I can' remember her too well... she left, see. When I was round three. She wasn' really the motherin' sort. Well, it's not in their natures, is it? Dunno what happened to her... might be dead fer all I know..."

Madame Maxime didn't say anything. I couldn't believe we were actually listening to this, but I had never heard Hagrid talk about his childhood before.

"My dad was heartbroken when she wen'. Tiny little block, my dad was. By the time I was six I could lift him up with one hand an' put him on top o' the dresser if he annoyed me. Used ter make him laugh..." Hagrid's deep voice broke, but still Madame Maxime didn't say anything. "Dad raised me...but he died, o' course, just after I started school. Sorta had ter make me own way after that. Dumbledore was a real help, mind. Very kind ter me, he was..."

We heard Hagrid blowing his nose heavily and then saying, "So...anyway...enough abou' me. What 'bout you? Which side you got it on?"

But Madame Maxime had suddenly gotten to her feet.

"It is chilly," she said- but whatever the weather was like, it was nothing like the cold in her voice. "I think I will go in now."

"Eh?" Hagrid said blankly. "No, don' go! I've- I've never met another one before!"

"Anuzzer what?" Madame Maxime said, her tone icy.

"Another half-giant, o' course!" Hagrid said.

"'Ow dare you!" Madame Maxime shrieked. Her voice exploded through the icy, peaceful air like a foghorn; behind us, I heard Fleur and Roger fall out of their rosebush. "I 'ave never been more insulted in my life! 'Alf giant? Moi? I 'ave- I 'ave big bones!" Despite the situation, Iggy actually chuckled but I hit him to shut him up. We didn't need Hagrid to know that we heard all of that.

Madame Maxime stormed away, making fairies rise into the air as she walked past them, angrily pushing aside bushes. Hagrid was still sitting on the bench, staring after her. It was too dark to see his expression. After about a minute, he stood up and walked away, not back to the castle, but back towards his cabin.

"C'mon," Fang said, "We should go."

We moved out of the shadows of the reindeer, but Ron didn't move.

"What's up?" Nudge asked.

Ron looked at us, his expression very serious.

"Did you know?" he asked, looking for all of us, even Ethan. "About Hagrid being a half-giant?"

We all shook our heads. "No," I shrugged. "So what?"

I knew from the expression on Ron's face that we were all once again revealing our ignorance of the wizarding world. Brought up in a lad, we didn't learn much of the wizarding world until four years ago, and there were still things I wasn't sure about, but things weren't as much of a surprise as they had been before. Now though, I could tell that most wizards wouldn't have said "so what?" to finding out that one of there friends had a giantess for a mom.

"I'll explain inside," Ron said, looking pale. "Come on..."

Fleur and Roger had disappeared, probably to find a more private clump of bushes. We returned to the Great Hall, and Ethan took my hand once more. I was starting to worry that he thought I was his girlfriend now. I don't know if I wanted that or not.

Parvati and Padma were sitting at a table with a whole crowd of Beauxbatons boys, and Hermione was once again dancing with Krum. We sat at a table far from the dance floor.

"So?" Iggy said. "What's so bad about giants?"

"Well, they're...they're..." Ron struggled to find the words, "not very nice," he finished lamely.

"Who cares?" I said. "There's nothing wrong with Hagrid!"

"I know there isn't but... blimey, no wonder he keeps in a secret," Ron said, shaking his head. "I always thought he'd got in the way of a bad Engorgement Charm when he was a kid or something. Didn't like to mention it..."

"But what's the matter if his mom is a giantess?" Harry asked.

"Well, no one who knows him will really care, because they know he isn't dangerous," Ron said slowly. "But... they're vicious, giants. It's like Hagrid said, it's in their natures, they're like trolls...they just like killing, everyone knows that. There aren't any left in Britain now, though."

"What happened to them?" Nudge asked.

"Well they were dying out anyway, and then loads got themselves killed by Aurors. There's supposed to be giants abroad though... they hide in mountains mostly."

We spent the rest of the ball discussing giants, only getting up to dance when a song we liked came on, but Ron and Harry never danced.

Just before twelve, Ethan asked if he could talk to me outside. He led me out to the rosebushes with all the fairies, then seemed to get awkward and embarrassed. "What is it?" I asked.

Instead of answering, he just leaned down and put his lips to mine. I was surprised, but then I started kissing him back. But after a few minutes I pulled away. "I'm sorry," I blurted.

"Is something wrong?" Ethan asked.

"No...yes...I don't know. But I don't really want a boyfriend right now. I'm sorry," I said.

"Oh. Well, that's okay. Don't worry about it. I'll see you around Max," he said and walked back into the castle. I sighed and sat down on a bench with my head in my hands.

"Max? What happened? Where's Ethan?"

I looked up and saw Harry walked over to me. He sat down beside me.

"He went back inside because I told him I didn't want a boyfriend right now. Should I have said that?" I asked, staring down at my adorable shoes.

"Well, if you don't want a boyfriend then you don't want a boyfriend. Of course you should of told him, it's the truth. And he was an idiot for just leaving," Harry said. I sighed again and leaned against Harry's shoulder. "I guess you're right," I said. Harry put his arm around my bare shoulders, keeping me warm. "I'm always right."

We stayed like that for a few minutes, just lying against each other in comfortable silence while everyone started filing out the Great Hall and back to their common rooms. Professor McGonagall came out, probably checking that nobody was still outside, and when she saw us, she actually smiled. I think she was just happy she didn't find us snogging each other or something.

"It's time for everyone to go to bed," McGonagall said. We stood up, thanked McGonagall and walked back into the Great Hall. As soon as we walked in, someone called, "Hey- Harry!"

It was Cedric. I could see Cho waiting for him on the marble staircase. I looked around for the flock, or Ron or Hermione, but I couldn't see any of them. They were probably already back at the common room.

"Yeah?" Harry said, rather coldly. I stared at him in surprise, but he was looking at Cedric.

Cedric hesitated, looking at me as if he didn't want to say whatever it was in front of me, but I stayed where I was. Cedric shrugged and said in a low voice, "Listen...I owe you one for telling me about the dragons. You know that golden egg? Does your wail when you open it?"

"Yeah," Harry said.

"Take a bath okay?"

"What?"

"Take a bath, and- er- take the golden egg with you and- er- just mull things over in the hot water. It'll help you think...trust me."

Harry just stared at him.

"Tell you what," Cedric said, "use the prefects bathroom. Fourth door to the left of that statue of Boris the Bewildered on the fifth floor. Passwords `pine fresh'. Gotta go... want to say goodnight."

He grinned again then hurried back to Cho.

Harry and I walked back to Gryffindor Tower, trying to figure out what Cedric had meant, but we got nothing. How useful was `take a bath'?

The Fat Lady and her friend Violet were sleeping in the portrait. We had to yell `Fairy lights!' before we woke them up, and when we did, they were both very irritated. We climbed into the common room, me trying not to fall over my dress, and we found Ron and Hermione in the middle of a heated argument. Standing ten feet apart, they were shouting at each other, each red in the face. Iggy was standing closer to Ron, and he looked like he was having the time of his life.

"Well, if you don't like it, you know what to do then, don't you?" Hermione shouted. Her hair was coming out of his elegant bun, and her face was screwed up in anger.

"Oh yeah?" Ron yelled. "What's that?"

"Next time there's a ball, ask me before somebody else does, and not as a last resort!"

Ron mouthed silently like a fish out of water as Hermione turned on her heel and stormed up the girls staircase to bed. Ron turned to look at me, Harry, Fang and Iggy.

"Well," he spluttered, looking thunderstruck, "that just proves it- completely missed the point-"

We didn't say anything. I always speak my mind, but not this time. I just somehow thought that Hermione got had gotten the point much better then Ron had.

* * *

><p><em><strong>Like I said, I'm sooooooooooooooooooooooo sorry this took so long, and sorry if it isn't as good as what people thought it would be like, but I've got a lot on my mind with my friend moving so far away, and I'm stressing about going back to school... but anyway, it's here at long last!<strong>_

_**I will put links on my profile to the pictures I found that were the closest things I could find to the girls dresses, but Hermione looks the same as she did in the movie, but just with with the colour dress from the book, because I think she looked beautiful and I didn't want to change it. **_

_**Oh yeah and if there are loads of random lines all through this chapter, don't mind them. They kept coming up when I was writing it, and I don't know why, so if they show up in the story, ignore them and sorry!**_

_**Just to let you know this chapter has 11,831 words!**_

_**You know the drill by now, so review and you get cookies and ice cream! so...**_

_**REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW!**_

_**-Rach ;)**_


	21. Rita Skeeter's Next Big Scoop

_**AUTHORS NOTE :P**_

_**Well, my friend has moved, but we're still talking everyday so it's fine :)**_

_**How are you guys? I'm so depressed that the summer is going so fast! I don't want to go back to school! I'm doing my Junior Cert this year, which I'm not looking forward too, so updating won't be as often when I go back because I'll be studying and all that boring stupid stuff... **_

_**Now I shall answer some reviews... **_

_**blazeice9967: thanks a million :) and to answer your review from chapter 11, which I'm only seeing now, sorry, it's not American or English football, it's Irish :) you know, gaelic football? Thanks :D**_

_**ChopSuzi: haha thanks :)**_

_**SevLoverKat: Maybe, maybe not... **_

_**Arkell26: Oh really? How did that happen? I hope you're alright, and get better soon :)That must of been hard, and annoying :/ I really want to go to America haha :) have you been to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter?**_

_**Max artemis potter: Thanks :) Oh, and I'm guessing by your name that you like the Artemis Fowl series? If you do, have you read the last one? I haven't gotten it yet and I want to know if it's good :)**_

_**AnikaandAj: haha that's fine! The second task is in three chapters, including this one :)**_

_**Quail Sandwich: Thanks :) I know, it won't be the same but it's better then not talking to her at all so I'm happy enough :) Thanks for the virtual hug and I shall give you a virtual hug back for the advice :D thanks :)**_

_**Pyro and Darnet co: Yeah I know, she really hates having to move and she's so much more depressed then we are :( we spent everyday with her before she moved. Yeah, it will be hard and we're always telling her how depressed we are haha :) we're like twins too so it will take a while to get over it. Thanks a lot for the review, it did help :)**_

_**Shan Shan Liang: thanks :)**_

_**Thanks to everyone who gave me advice about my friend, it actually did help me a lot. I love you guys :) **_

_**Anyone who had read the Mortal Instruments, what do you think of the cast for the movie? I think it's great so far!**_

_**Oh, and who has read the LAST EVER Maximum Ride book? If you have, please no spoilers, because my sisters boyfriend ordered it for me on amazon and I got it today but I haven't read it yet... NO SPOILERS! But I just want to know if it's good?**_

_**Now, on with the chapter!**_

_**Enjoy!**_

_**-Rach ;)**_

* * *

><p><strong>Max's POV<strong>

We all slept in late on Boxing Day, me later then the others because during the night I was kept awake by strange, terrifying nightmares of a graveyard, a man with red eyes and I saw Harry there, screaming and twitching on the ground like the spider from Professor Moody's class. Over and over I had this dream and I didn't know what to think of it.

The Gryffindor common room was so much more quieter then it had been lately, many yawns filling the room along with lazy conversation. Hermione's hair was bushy again; she said it was too much bother to use the potion thing in her hair everyday.

Ron and Hermione seemed to have come to an unspoken agreement not to mention their argument. They were being perfectly friendly with eachother, but also awkwardly formal. We waisted no time in telling Hermione about the conversation we had overheard between Hagrid and Maxime, but Hermione didn't seem to find the news that Hagrid was half-giant as shocking as the rest of us did. Now that I think about, how I never guessed it before made me feel quite stupid.

"Well, I thought he might be," she said, shrugging. "I knew he couldn't be pure giant, because they're about twenty feet tall. But honestly, all this fuss about giants. They can't be all horrible... it's the same kind of prejudice people have towards werewolves... It's just bigotry, isn't it?"

Ron looked like he wanted to argue with what she said, but not wanting another fight, he just shook his head disbelievingly when she wasn't looking. I kicked his leg under the table, giving him a stern look. He just shrugged.

It was once again time to think about the homework that we had neglected during the first week of the holidays. Everyone seemed to be feeling rather flat now that Christmas was over- everyone, I think, except for Harry, who was starting to get nervous again, although I think I was the only person that noticed. I kept reminding him what Cedric had said about taking the egg and having a bath, and every time I reminded him, he'd tell me that he hadn't forgotten and that he was doing his best to figure it out on his own. Which I kinda doubted, but don't tell him that.

I didn't say this to Harry, but I'm guessing he was thinking it himself, but if Cedric really wanted to tell Harry how to figure it out, he wouldn't of been all mysterious about it. He would of said it straight out, what he had to do. Harry didn't beat around the bush when he told Cedric about the dragons, so why did Cedric have to now?

The snow was still thick on the grounds on the first day of term, and the windows of the greenhouse were covered in condensation was so thick that we couldn't see out of them in Herbology. Nobody was looking forward to Care of Magical Creatures, though as Iggy said, the skrewts would warm us up in no time, either by chasing us, or blasting off so forcefully that Hagrid's cabin would catch fire.

When we got to Hagrid's cabin, though, it wasn't Hagrid that was there. We found an elderly witch with close cropped grey hair and a very prominent chin standing before his door.

"Hurry up now, the bell rang five minutes ago!" she barked as we struggled towards her in the snow.

"Who're you?" Iggy asked. "Where's Hagrid?"

"My name is Professor Grubbly-Plank," she said briskly. "I am your temporary Care of Magical Creatures teacher."

"Where's Hagrid?" I repeated loudly.

"He is indisposed," Grubbly-Plank said.

Soft and unpleasant laughter reached my ears. I turned around, the others following my lead; Malfoy and the rest of the Slytherins were joining the class. All of them looked gleeful, and none of them looked surprised to see Grubbly-Plank.

"This way, please," Grubbly-Plank, and she strode off around the paddock where the Beauxbatons horses were shivering. The six of us followed her, looking back over our shoulders at Hagrid's cabin. All the curtains were closed, and there were no lights on. Was Hagrid in there, alone and sick?

"What's wrong with Hagrid?" I asked, hurrying to catch up with Grubbly-Plank.

"Never you mind," she said, as if she thought I was being nosy.

"We do mind, though," Fang said, coming up beside me. "What's up with him?"

But she acted as if she couldn't hear him. She led us past the paddock, where the Beauxbatons horses were huddling against the cold, and toward a tree on the edge of the forest, where a large and beautiful unicorn was tethered.

Many of the girls, "Oooooohed!" Me and Hermione just stared at it, grinning.

"Oh, it's so beautiful!" whispered Lavender. "But how did she get it? They're supposed to be really hard to catch."

The unicorn was so brightly white that it made the snow seem grey. It was pawing the ground nervously with it's golden hooves and throwing back it's horned head.

"Boys keep back!" Grubbly-Plank barked, throwing an arm out and hitting Fang in the chest. He stared at her with raised eyebrows, but she was ignoring him. "They prefer the woman's touch, unicorns. Girls to the front, and approach with care, easy does it..."

I glanced back at the boys, who were staring at Grubbly-Plank with annoyed expressions. I sighed and followed the other girls over to the unicorn. I wasn't listening to what Grubbly-Plank was saying about the unicorn, I was thinking too much about Hagrid... Was he hurt? Or sick? Or something much worse then that? I turned around and saw that all the boys in the class were crowded together, and Harry was reading a copy of the Daily Prophet aloud, but I couldn't hear him. He lifted his head, and looked at Ron, Fang and Iggy. They talked, and then Malfoy was talking, but I still couldn't hear what they were saying, but it seemed like they were arguing. No surprises there.

"Are you paying attention over there?"

I turned around, but Grubbly-Plant was looking at the boys, not me. They stopped arguing, but Harry, Ron, Iggy and Fang still looked furious and the Slytherins were looking gleeful.

When the lesson ended, Hermione and I joined the boys, but before I could ask them what Malfoy wanted, we heard Parvati say, "I hope she stays, that woman. That's more what I thought Care of Magical Creatures would be like... proper creatures, like unicorns, not monsters..."

"What about Hagrid?" Harry said angrily as we went up the steps.

"What about him? He can still be gamekeeper, can't he?" Parvati said in a hard voice.

Parvati had been very cold toward Harry since the ball. Maybe he should of paid more attention to her, but she still had a good time all the same. She was certainly telling anyone with ears that she had made plans to meet the boy from Beauxbatons in Hogsmeade on the next weekend trip.

"That was a really good lesson," Hermione said as we entered the Great Hall for lunch. "I didn't know half of the things Professor Grubbly-Plank told us about uni-"

"Look at this!" Harry hissed, shoving the Daily Prophet over to me and Hermione.

**DUMBLEDORE'S GIANT MISTAKE**  
><em>Albus Dumbledore, eccentric Headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, has never been afraid to make controversial staff appointments, writes Rita Skeeter, Special Correspondent. In September of this year, he hired Alastor "Mad-Eye" Moody, the notoriously jinx-happy ex-Auror, to teach Defense Against the Dark Arts, a decision that caused many raised eyebrows at the Ministry of Magic, given Moody's well-known habit of attacking anybody who makes a sudden movement in his presence. Mad-Eye Moody, however, looks responsible and kindly when set beside the part-human Dumbledore employs to teach Care of Magical Creatures. <em>  
><em>Rubeus Hagrid, who admits to being expelled from Hogwarts in his third year, has enjoyed the position of gamekeeper at the school ever since, a job secured for him by Dumbledore. Last year, however, Hagrid used his mysterious influence over the headmaster to secure the additional post of Care of Magical Creatures teacher, over the heads of many better-qualified candidates. <em>  
><em>An alarmingly large and ferocious-looking man, Hagrid has been using his newfound authority to terrify the students in his care with a succession of horrific creatures. While Dumbledore turns a blind eye, Hagrid has maimed several pupils during a series of lessons that many admit to being "very frightening." <em>  
><em>'I was attacked by a hippogriff, and my friend Vincent Crabbe got a bad bite off a flobberworm," says Draco Malfoy, a fourth-year student. "We all hate Hagrid, but we're just too scared to say anything." <em>  
><em>Hagrid has no intention of ceasing his campaign of intimidation, however. In conversation with a Daily Prophet reporter last month, he admitted breeding creatures he has dubbed "Blast-Ended Skrewts," highly dangerous crosses between manti-cores and fire-crabs. The creation of new breeds of magical creature is, of course, an activity usually closely observed by the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures. Hagrid, however, considers himself to be above such petty restrictions. <em>  
><em>"I was just having some fun," he says, before hastily changing the subject. <em>  
><em>As if this were not enough, the Daily Prophet has now unearthed evidence that Hagrid is not - as he has always pretended - a pure-blood wizard. He is not, in fact, even pure human. His mother, we can exclusively reveal, is none other than the giantess Fridwulfa, whose whereabouts are currently unknown. <em>  
><em>Bloodthirsty and brutal, the giants brought themselves to the point of extinction by warring amongst themselves during the last century. The handful that remained joined the ranks of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, and were responsible for some of the worst mass Muggle killings of his reign of terror. <em>  
><em>While many of the giants who served He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named were killed by Aurors working against the Dark Side, Fridwulfa was not among them. It is possible she escaped to one of the giant communities still existing in foreign mountain ranges. If his antics during Care of Magical Creatures lessons are any guide, however, Fridwulfa's son appears to have inherited her brutal nature. <em>  
><em>In a bizarre twist, Hagrid is reputed to have developed a close friendship with the boy who brought around You-Know-Who's fall from power - thereby driving Hagrid's own mother, like the rest of You-Know-Who's supporters, into hiding- and the strange winged children at Hogwarts. Perhaps Harry Potter and Maximum Ride (the oldest, and leader, of the `flock') is unaware of the unpleasant truth about their large friend - but Albus Dumbledore surely has a duty to ensure that Harry Potter, along with his fellow students, is warned about the dangers of associating with part-giants. <em>

My mouth dropped open when I finished reading. "What the bloody hell is this?" I snapped. "How did she find out?"

"You don't think Hagrid told her?" Hermione asked, her eyes wide.

"No," Harry said, leading the way over to the Gryffindor table and throwing himself down into a seat beside Nudge, furious. "He never even told us did he? I reckon she was so mad that he didn't give her loads of horrible stuff about me that, she went rooting around to get him back."

"Are you talking about the thing in the Prophet about Hagrid? I just read it before you guys came in. How did Skeeter find out? I didn't say anything to anyone, anyway, but I don't think Hagrid would of told her. I don't think he would of told anyone, actually, if Madame Maxime hadn't shown up. How do you-?"

"Maybe she heard him telling Maxime at the ball?" I said, interrupting Nudge. She didn't seem that bothered.

"We'd have seen her in the garden!" Ron said. "Anyway, she's not meant to come into the grounds any more. Hagrid said that Dumbledore banned her."

"Maybe she has an Invisibility Cloak," Iggy said. "Sort of thing she'd do, isn't? Hide in bushes, listening to people?"

"Like what you all did?" Hermione asked.

"We weren't trying to hear them!" Fang said. "We didn't have a choice."

"The stupid prat, talking about his giantess mother where anyone can hear him," Ron muttered, shaking his head.

I looked back at the article, and read out, "_And my friend Vincent Crabbe got a bad bite off a flobberworm." _I looked up at the others. "Flobberworms don't even have any teeth! This is all a load of sh-"

"We've got to go and see him," I said. "This evening, after Divination. Tell him we want him back...you do want him back, don't you?" I asked Hermione.

"I- well, I'm not going to pretend it didn't make a nice change, having a proper Care of Magical Creatures lesson for once- but I do want Hagrid back, of course I do!" she added hastily under Harry furious stare.

So that evening after dinner, the six of us left the castle and went down through the frozen grounds to Hagrid's cabin. We knocked, and Fang the dogs booming barks answered.

"Hagrid! It's us!" I shouted, banging on the door. "Let us in!"

Hagrid didn't answer. We could hear Fang the dog scratching at the door, whining, but it didn't open. We hammered on it for ten minutes, shouting that we didn't care about what he was, and Ron and Iggy even knocked on the windows, but there was no response.

"What's he avoiding us for?" Hermione asked when we had finally given up and were walking back to the school. "He surely doesn't think we'd care about him being a half-giant?"

But apparently, Hagrid cared a lot. We didn't see a sign of him all week. He didn't show up at the staff table for dinner or breakfast, we didn't see him doing his usual gamekeepers duties on the grounds, and Grubbly-Plank was was still taking his Care fo Magical Creatures classes. Malfoy, being his usual annoying, jerk self, was gloating about this every time he could.

"Missing your half-breed pal?" he kept whispering to us whenever there was a teacher around, so that he was always safe from getting kicked into the middle of August. The presence the teachers wouldn't have actually stopped me from beating Malfoy up, but Harry always took my hand in his whenever Malfoy was around, and that seemed to calm me down. "Missing the elephant-man?"

There was a Hogsmeade visit halfway through January, and Hermione seemed very surprised when Harry said that he'd go.

"I just thought you'd want to take advantage of the common room being so quiet," she said. "Really get to work on that egg."

"Oh I- I reckon I've got it pretty much figured out now," Harry said, but I could tell he was lying.

"Have you really?" Hermione asked, looking impressed, and even proud, "Well done!"

I stared at him as Hermione and Iggy started a conversation, and he just shrugged.

The seven of us (Nudge came with us) left the castle on Saturday and set off through the cold, wet ground towards the gates. I kept yawning because for the last few nights, I've been having the same nightmare of the graveyard, and every night it was a different person being tortured, but mostly it was between me and Harry. I few times I've tried asking the Voice what the dreams meant, but I got no answer, like always. As we passed the Durmstrang ship moored in the lake, we saw Viktor Krum emerge onto the deck, dressed in nothing but swimming trunks. He was very skinny, but still had muscles, and he definitely proved that he was tougher then he looked because he climbed up onto the side of the ship, stretched out his arms and dived right into the lake.

"He's insane!" Iggy said, staring at Krum's dark head as it bobbed out in the middle of the lake. "It must be freezing! It's January!"

"It's a lot colder where he comes form. I'd say it's quite warm for him," Hermione said.

"Yeah, but there's still the giant squad," Ron said. He didn't sound anxious- if anything, he sounded hopeful. Hermione noticed the tone of his voice and frowned.

"He's really nice, you know," Hermione said. "He's not at all like you'd think, coming from Durmstrang. He likes it much better here, he told me."

Ron didn't say anything. He hadn't mentioned Krum since the ball, but Fang told me that he had found a miniature arm under his bed on Boxing Day, and it had looked a lot like the arm from Ron's figure of Krum.

I kept my eyes wide open for a sign of Hagrid all the way down the slushy High Street, but didn't see him. Harry suggested going to the Three Broomsticks, and I knew that he was hoping to bump into Hagrid just like I was.

The pub was as crowded as ever, but a quick look around at the tables told me that Hagrid wasn't there. I sighed and went up to the bar with the others, ordered seven butterbeers, and the flock got food, from Madame Rosmerta, and we found a table and sat down.

"Does he ever actually work?" Nudge whispered suddenly. "Look!"

She pointed into the mirror behind the bar, and we saw Ludo Bagman reflected there, sitting in a shadowy corner of the pub with a bunch of goblins. I frowned. What was he doing with goblins? Bagman was talking very fast in a low voice to the goblins, and all of them had their arms crossed and were looking menacing.

It was weird, that he was here when there was no Triwizard tournament or event. I watched Bagman in the mirror. He was looking strained again, like on the night the Dark Mark had appeared. But just then, Bagman looked up at the bar, saw us in the mirror and stood up.

"In a moment, in a moment," I heard him say sternly to the goblins, and Bagman hurried through the pub towards our table, his boyish grin back in place.

"Harry!" he said. "How are you? Been hoping to run into you! Everything alright?"

"Fine, thanks," Harry said.

Then Bagman looked at me, Fang, Iggy and Nudge. "I never got the opportunity to talk to you four at the Yule Ball. I'm so sorry about everything that's happened to you, but I must say, your wings are quite something. I'd be proud to be so different from everyone else from something so beautiful." That had to be one of the wisest thing I've ever heard Bagman say.

"We are proud. We're not afraid to hide who we are anymore," I said, and just to prove the point, I spread my wings out a tiny bit, because there wasn't that much space.

Bagman smiled, then turned back to Harry. "Wonder if I could have a quick word, Harry?" he said eagerly. Then he looked at the rest of us. "Wouldn't mind giving us a minute, you lot?"

"I do mind actu-" I started, but Nudge elbowed me in the ribs and said, "Er- okay," and stood up. The other's stood up after her, and after a few seconds I stood up with them, raising my eyebrows at him. He just shrugged and I followed the others over to the bar. We stood by the bar, watching Bagman talk to Harry.

"What do you think he wants?" Ron asked.

"No idea," Iggy said.

"What was he doing with the goblins?" I asked, frowning.

"Who knows? He's a strange man and they're strange creatures," Fang said.

"There definitely is something strange about Bagman. He's been quite jumpy since the World Cup, hasn't he?" Hermione said.

We watched Harry and Bagman talking for another few minutes, and then Fred and George went over to them. Bagman started looking uneasy as soon as he saw them. Bagman started shaking his head, then he just walked quickly out of the pub. The goblins slid off their chairs and followed him. We walked over to Harry, who was looking very confused.

"What did he want?" Ron asked as we sat down.

"He offered me help with the golden egg," Harry said.

"He shouldn't be doing that!" Hermione said, looking very shocked. "He's one of the judges! Anyway, you have it figured out already, don't you Harry?"

"Er- nearly," Harry said, lying again. He avoided looking at me.

"Well, I don't think Dumbledore would like it very much if he found out that Bagman was trying to persuade you to cheat," Hermione said, still looking very disapproving. "I hope he's offered Cedric the same."

"He's not, I asked," Harry said.

"Who cares if Diggory's getting help?" Ron asked.

"The goblins didn't look very friendly," Nudge said, sipping at her butterbeer, "What were they doing here?"

"Looking for Crouch according to Bagman," Harry said. "He's still ill. Hasn't been to work."

"Maybe Percy poisoned him," I said. "Wouldn't surprise me if he did. Probably thinks that if Crouch dies, he'll become head of the department of International Magical Cooperation."

Hermione gave me a don't-joke-about-things-like-that look while the others chuckled. Hermione said, "Funny, those goblins looking for Crouch... They'll normally deal with the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures."

"Crouch can speak loads of different languages though," Fang said. "Maybe they need an interpreter."

"Worrying about poor little goblins, now are you?" Ron said to Hermione. "Going to start S.P.U.G now, or something? Society for the Protection of Ugly Goblins?"

"Ha ha ha," Hermione said sarcastically, rolling her eyes. "Goblins don't need protection, Ronald. Haven't you been listening to a word of what Professor Binn's said about the goblin rebellions?"

"No," the rest of us said together. "Hermione, you should know by now that you're the only person that pays attention in History of Magic," Iggy said.

"No, I'm not! Max pays attention," Hermione said.

"No I don't. I'm just able to sleep with my eyes open," I said, grinning. Hermione shook her head and said, "Well, they're very capable of taking care of themselves and dealing with wizards. They're very clever. Not like house-elves, who never stick up for themselves."

"Uh-oh," Iggy said, staring at the door.

Rita Skeeter had just walked in through the door, wearing banana-yellow robes; her nails were painted a shocking pink and Nudge looked as if someone threw Crabbe's smelly socks in her face. Skeeter, as always, was joined by her paunchy photographer. She brought drinks, and she and the photographer made their way through the crowd to sit at a table nearby. The seven of us glared at her as she approached. She was talking very fast and seemed to be very pleased about something.

"...didn't seem very interested in talking to us, did he Bozo? Now, why would that be, do you think? And what's he doing with all those goblins trailing after him? Showing them the sights...what nonsense...he was always a bad liar. Reckon somethings up? Think we should do a bit of digging? `Disgraced Ex-Head of Magical Games and Sports, Ludo Bagman...' Snappy start to a sentence, Bozo- we just need a story to fit it-"

"Planning on ruining someone else's life then? How lovely," I said loudly and sarcastically.

A few people turned around. Skeeter's eyes widened behind her jeweled spectacles when she saw us.

"Maximum! Harry!" she said, beaming. "Why don't you join-"

"I wouldn't go near you with a ten foot broomstick," Harry said furiously. "What did you do that to Hagrid for, eh?"

Skeeter raised her heavily pencilled eyebrows.

"Our readers have to know the truth, Harry. I am merely doing my-"

"Who cares if he's half-giant!" I shouted. "There's nothing wrong with him! And half of what you wrote was a load of crap!"

The whole pub had gone quiet. Madam Rosmerta was staring over from behind the bar, oblivious to the fact that the flagon she was filling with mead was overflowing.

Skeeter's smile flickered very slightly, but she hitched it back straight away; she snapped open her crocodile-skin handbag, pulled out her Quick-Quotes Quill and said, "How about the two of you give me an interview about the Hagrid you know? The man behind the muscles? Your unlikely friendship and the reasons behind it. Would he seem like a father substitute for the two of you, seeing as your father, Harry is dead, and Max, your father is a murderer. Did Hagrid give you the father figure you've always wanted?"

My blood was pounding in my veins and my face was red with anger. I went to move closer to Skeeter, close enough to hit her, but Fang grabbed my hand and pulled me back. But then something happened that surprised everyone.

Hermione stood up very abruptly, her fists clenched tightly at her sides.

"You horrible woman," she said through gritted teeth, "you don't care, do you? Anything for a story, and anyone will do, won't they? Six kids who had a terrible past, you had to get everyone talking about that, and then someone as harmless as Hagrid and now Ludo Bagman-"

"Sit down, you silly girl, and don't talk about things you can't understand," Skeeter said coldly, her eyes hardening as they fell on Hermione. "I know things about Ludo Bagman that would make your hair curl... not that it needs it-" she added, eyeing Hermione's bushy hair.

"Hermione is much, much smarter then you, Skeeter. She could take your job in a week without even trying," I snarled.

"You better learn to keep that temper of your in check, missy," Skeeter snapped. "It could cause you trouble in the future."

"Well, actually it's Max's temper that saves us, most of the time," Iggy said, standing up beside me. Skeeter glared at us but before she could say anything, Hermione said, "C'mon, let's go."

We left, with many people staring at us as we walked out. I glanced over my shoulder as we reached the door. Skeeter's Quite Quotes Quill was out, moving back and forth over a piece of parchment on the table.

"She'll be after you next, Hermione. And she's probably going to try and find something else about you, Max," Ron said.

"Let her try!" Hermione said furiously; she was actually shaking with rage. "I'll show her! Silly little girl, am I? I'll get her back for this. First Harry, then the flock, then Hagrid-"

"You don't want to go upsetting Skeeter," Nudge said nervously. "Seriously Hermione, she'll dig up something on you, and it will be bad and embarrassing-"

"My parents don't read the Daily Prophet. She can't scare me into hiding!" Hermione said, now striding so fast that we were jogging to keep up her. The last time I had seen Hermione this mad was when she punched Malfoy. "And Hagrid isn't hiding anymore! He should never have let that excuse for a human being upset him! Come on!"

Breaking into a run, she led us all the way back up the road, through the gates flanked by winged boars and up through the grounds towards Hagrid's cabin.

The curtains were still drawn and we could hear Fang the dog barking as we approached. Hermione looked at me, knowing that I agreed with her completely about this, and I nodded. The two of us ran to the door and started banging on it. "Hagrid!" we shouted.

"Hagrid, that's enough! We know you're in there!" Hermione shouted.

"No one gives a crap that your mum was a giantess, Hagrid! You can't let that cow Skeeter get to you!" I shouted, banging on the door harder then before.

"You're being ridiculous, Hagrid! Open the door!" Hermione shouted.

The door opened. I said, "About ti-" but stopped when I saw who had opened the door. It wasn't Hagrid, it was Professor Dumbledore.

"Good afternoon," he said cheerfully, smiling down at us.

"We came to see Hagrid," I said.

"Yes, I gathered as much," Dumbledore said, his eyes twinkling. "Why don't you come in?"

"Oh...um, okay," Hermione said.

The seven of us piled into the cabin. Fang the dog launched himself at Harry the moment he entered, barking madly and trying to lick his ears.

Hagrid was sitting at the table, where there were two large cups of tea. He looked a real mess. His face was blotchy, his eyes read and swollen and his hair looked a wig of tangled wire.

"Hi Hagrid," I said, sitting in the chair beside him.

He looked up.

"`Lo," he said in a hoarse voice.

"More tea, I think," Dumbledore said, closing the door behind us and drawing his wand. He waved it and a revolving tea tray appeared in midair along with a plate of cakes. Dumbledore magicked the tray onto the table, and the rest of them sat down. There was a slight pause and then Dumbledore said, "Did you by any chance hear what Miss Granger and Miss Ride was shouting, Hagrid?"

Hermione blushed and my cheeks went pink, but Dumbledore smiled at us and continued. "Harry, Ron, Hermione, Max, Fang, Iggy and Nudge still want to know you, Hagrid, judging by the way they were trying to break down the door."

"Of course we still want to know you!" Iggy said, staring at Hagrid. "You don't think anything that Skeeter cow- er, sorry Professor," he added quickly, looking at Dumbledore.

"I have temporarily gone deaf and I have no idea what you said Iggy," Dumbledore said, twiddling his thumbs and staring at the ceiling. I chocked into my tea, coughing and spluttering. Fang patted me on the back, trying not to laugh at me. I glared at him.

"Er, right," Harry said, looking at Dumbledore. "But what Iggy was trying to say was, how could you think that we care about what that- that woman wrote about you?"

Two fat tears leaked out of Hagrid's beetle-black eyes and fell slowly into his tangled beard.

"Living proof of what I've been telling you, Hagrid," Dumbledore said, still looking carefully up at the ceiling. "I have shown you the letters from the countless parents that remember you from their time here, telling me that if I sacked you, they would have something to say about it-"

"Not all of 'em," Hagrid said hoarsely. "Not all of 'em wan' me ter stay."

"Really Hagrid, if you are holding out for universal popularity, you'll be in this cabin for a long time," Dumbledore said, now peering sternly over his half-moon spectacles. "Not a week has passed since the day I became headmaster of this school when I haven't had at least one owl complaining about the way I run it. But what should I do? Barricade myself inside my office and refuse to talk to anyone?"

"Yeh- yeh're not half-giant!" Hagrid said croakily.

"Look at what I have for relatives, Hagrid!" Harry said furiously. "Look at the Dursleys!"

"An excellent point," Dumbledore said. "My own brother, Aberforth, was prosecuted for practising inappropriate charms on a goat. It was all over the papers, but did Aberforth hide? No, he did not! He held his head high and went about his business as usual! Of course, I'm not entirely sure he can read, so that may not have been bravery... And the flock never hid for a single second when their secret was revealed, which is true bravery in my eyes."

We smiled at him.

"Please come back, Hagrid," Hermione said quietly. "Come back and teach, we really miss you."

Hagrid gulped and more tears leaked out down his cheeks and into his tangled beard.

Dumbledore stood up. "I refuse to accept your resignation, Hagrid, and I expect you back to work on Monday," he said. "You will join me for breakfast in the Great Hall at eight-thirty. No excuses. Good afternoon to you all."

Dumbledore left the cabin, pausing only to scratch Fang the dog's ears. When the door shut behind him, Hagrid began to sob into his dustbin-lid-sized hands. I moved closer to Hagrid and rubbed his arm comfortingly, and Hermione was patting his back, and at last, Hagrid looked up and his eyes were very red and puffy, and he said, "Great man, Dumbledore...great man..."

"Yeah he is," Ron said. "Can I have one of these cakes, Hagrid?"

"Help yerself," Hagrid said, wiping his eyes on the back of his hand. "Ar, he's right o' course- yeh're all righ'...I bin stupid... my ol' dad woulda bin ashamed o' the way I've bin behavin'..." more tears fell from his eyes, but he wiped them away and said, "Never shown you a picture of my old dad, have I? Here..."

Hagrid got up, went over to his dresser, opened a drawer and pulled out a picture of a short wizard with Hagrid's crinkled black eyes, beaming as he sat on top of Hagrid's shoulder. Hagrid was a good seven or eight feet tall, judging by the apple tree beside them, but his face was beardless, young, round and smooth- he looked hardly older then eleven.

"Tha was taken jus' after I got into Hogwarts," Hagrid croaked. "Dad was dead chuffed... thought I migh' not be a wizard, see, `cos me mum...well anyway. `Course, I never was great shakes at magic, really...but at least he never saw me expelled. Died, see, in me second year...

"Dumbledore was the one who stuck up for me after Dad died. Got me the gamekeeper job...trusts people, he does... Gives 'em second chances...tha's what sets him apar' from the other heads, see. He'll accept anyone at Hogwarts, s'long as they've got the talent. Knows people can turn out okay, even if their families weren'...well...all tha' respectable. But some don' understand that. There's some who'd always hold it against yeh... there's some who'd even pretend they just had big bones rather then stand up an' say- I am what I am, an' I'm not ashamed. `Never be ashamed' my ol' dad used ter say, `there's some who'd hold it against yeh, but they're not worth bothering with.' An' he was right, I've bin an idiot. I'm not botherin' with her no more, I promise yeh that... Big bones...I'll give her big bones..."

We looked at each other nervously. I would rather take on fifty Erasers and fifty Skrewts at the same time rather then admit to Hagrid that we overheard him and Maxime talking at the Yule Ball, but Hagrid was still talking as if he hadn't noticed that he had said anything odd.

"Yeh know wha', Harry?" he said, looking up from the picture of his father, his eyes bright. "when I firs' met you, you reminded me o' me a bit. Mum an' Dad gone, an' you was feelin' like you wouldn' fit in at Hogwarts, remember? Not sure yeh were really up to it... an' look at yeh now Harry! School champion!"

He looked at Harry very seriously for a minute, then said, "Yeh know what I'd love, Harry? I'd love yeh ter win, I really would. It'd shown 'em all...yeh don't have ter be pureblood ter do it. Yeh don't have ter be ashamed of what yeh are. It'd show 'em Dumbledore's the one who's got it righ', lettin' anyone in as long as they can do magic. How you doin' with that egg, Harry?"

I stared at Harry and forced a smile. "Yeah, Harry. Have you figured it out yet?"

"Er, yeah. I've got it figured out," Harry said. I shot him a look but he ignored me.

Hagrid's miserable face broke into a proud smile, his eyes tearing again, but this time they were tears of happiness. "That's my boy...you show 'em, Harry. Beat 'em all."

Harry stared down at his lap, obviously feeling guilty that he had just lied to Hagrid. Well he should feel guilty for lying to not only Hagrid, but to all of us. I just hope he sucks up his pride soon and see what Cedric's hint meant.

* * *

><p><em><strong>And here is the chapter! Hope everyone enjoyed reading it and I'm sorry it took a while : **_

_**I don't know when the next chapter will be up because I'm back to school on the 28th but it shouldn't be too long I hope :P **_

_**So, if you want cookies and butterbeer you have to review so...**_

_**REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW!**_

_**lOvE yOu!**_

_**-Rach ;)**_


	22. Night Time Wanderings

_**AUTHORS NOTE! :P**_

_**I AM SOOOO SORRY IT TOOK ME SO LONG! **_

_** So my sister broke her arm at work so I have to be a little slave for her, but I don't really mind cause I love her to bits but I do have to help her with a lot of stuff and that's stopping me from updating but she's back to college now but I'm back at school and I'm doing my Junior Cert this year, and for those who don't know what that is, it's kinda like the O.W.L'S :( So the teachers are giving up loads of homework :/**_

_**So once again, SORRY! **_

_**Now to answer some reviews... **_

_**blazeice9967: Really? Oh, I can't wait to read it! I just have to finish Clockwork Prince and I can read it! **_

_**Alexpuppy789: Gazzy is 8 (to be nine before the story is over) and Angel is six, almost 7. **_

_**Courtney DiLaurentis: *in a sing song voice* you'll just have to wait and see! :D**_

_**max artemis potter: I haven't read it yet either, bit I didn't really like the Atlantis Complex all that much. I'm back on the 26th... :/**_

_**ChopSuzi: I took that from the book because I loved it too! I laughed when I read it before as well :D**_

_**Shan Shan Liang: you'll just have to wait and see... :D**_

_**Arkell26: Oh really? So what actually happened to your arm? As I said up there, my sister broke her arm, but at the a&e, they told her it was her ulna that was broken, but then we went up to a different hospital to get her the proper cast, and the doctors there told her it was a completely different bone that she had broken... some doctors are idiots haha :)**_

_**Annie Bell: you really thought so? well some people I've talked to really liked it, but I finished it yesterday and I hated the ending :( i liked the book in general, but I didn't think it was good enough to be a last book in the series :( I was sad :(**_

_**AnikaandAj: Yeah, it kinda sucks :( I love Hagrid! He's amazing! Maybe in a couple chapters, we'll see :)**_

_**SevLoverKat: Happy birthday! Hope you had a good day :D **_

_**Thanks for all the reviews everyone! As always, they are very much appreciated!**_

_**Anyone here read Skulduggery Pleasant? Just wondering...**_

_**AND OH MY GOD WE GOT A DOG! I've wanted a puppy for so long and now we have one! His name is Bruce and he's 12 weeks old :'D I wanted to call him Padfoot but my sister wouldn't let me...so now I call him Bruce Wayne because I love Batman! HE'S SO CUTE! :D **_

_**anyway...**_

_**Now, on with the chapter! :D (this chapter could be quite short, just saying.)**_

_**AND SORRY AGAIN!**_

_**Enjoy!**_

_**-Rach ;)**_

* * *

><p><em><strong>Max's POV<strong>_

_I was standing in an old graveyard. The headstones that I could see were all cracked and dirty. I looked around and saw that the flock were standing together by a grave, all of them looking terrified. I tried to speak, but nothing came out. _

_Behind them, I could see Harry, Ron and Hermione walking to join them, looking scared as well. Suddenly, all of them dropped to the ground like stones. I tried to scream, but still no noise came out. I ran over to them, and as I got closer I knew that all of them were dead. I fell down on the ground beside them, tears falling down my cheeks. _

_I stood up and wheeled around when I heard high, cold, laughter. Standing by a large headstone was a tall, skinny man, but I couldn't see his features. The only thing I noticed were piercing red eyes... _

I bolted upright, my heart hammering and my shirt sticking to my body with sweat. I pushed my sweaty hair out of my face and tried to even my breathing. It's the same nightmare I've been having for a while, but what I found strange was that there was always a gap of a few days between every nightmare, but each time was even more terrifying then the first.

I tried to go back to sleep, but I couldn't. After about ten minutes of tossing and turning, trying to fall asleep, I eventually gave up and sat up again with my feet on the ground. After a couple more minutes, I decided that the only thing for me to do would be to go outside and fly. I stood up and grabbed my jumper, threw it over my head, then pulled on my dirty converse.

I checked that Hermione, Lavender and Parvarti were still asleep, then I eased the door open as slowly as possible so it wouldn't squeak. I sneaked down to the common room, then stopped. Should I wake the others? Ask if they wanted to go flying with me? I thought about it for a minute, then decided against it. This was my time. And I ran out of the portrait hole.

"Where do you think you're going at this time of night? It's past curfew!" The Fat Lady shouted as I walked down the corridor. I smirked and started running down the stairs.

When I reached the fourth floor, I skidded to a halt. I was sure I heard footsteps. I know I'm not one to care about the rules, but I really didn't want to have to face Professor McGonagall when she was angry. Or Filch. I never wanted to face Filch.

I ducked down behind the statue of Boris the Bewildered and listened. The footsteps got closer, and then I heard them stop right in front of the statue. My curiosity got the better of me (not the first time, and definitely not the last) and I peeked out around the statue. But there was no one there. I looked around quietly, but there was no one to be seen.

_To be seen... _

I reached out my hand, slowly, trying to stay closer to the shadows. I felt the silky fabric of the Invisibility Cloak and I pulled.

Standing there was Harry, the Marauders Map in one hand and the golden egg in the other. His black hair was damp and he smelled of different kinds of perfume scented soap. He stared at me with wide green eyes, shocked.

"What are you doing here?" he hissed.

"I could ask you same question," I said eyeing the golden egg. Then something clicked. The egg, the soap scent that was rolling off of him, and where we were standing- in the fourth floor by the statue of Boris the Bewildered. "You had a bath," I said, grinning.

"So?" he asked, trying not to smile.

"You have the egg. You took Cedric's terrible advice."

Harry smiled. "So maybe I did. At least now I figured out the wailing."

"You did?"

"I did."

"What did it mean?" I asked.

Harry frowned, trying to remember. Then he said, ""Come seek us where our voices sound,  
>We cannot sing above the ground,<br>And while you're searching, ponder this:  
>Wove taken what you'll sorely miss,<br>An hour long you'll have to look,  
>And to recover what we took,<br>But past an hour- the prospect's black,  
>Too late, it's gone, it wont come back.""<p>

"And you figured out what that meant that fast?" I asked, trying to figure it out myself.

"Yeah well, Moaning Myrtle helped," Harry asked, rolling his eyes.

"What? Moaning Myrtle was with you while you were having a bath?" I asked, trying not to laugh.

"Oh, shut up," Harry said, smiling. "There were loads of bubbles."

I laughed and said, "So what does it mean?"

"It means that something I would really miss will be stolen from me and placed at the bottom of the Black Lake and I have an hour to get it," Harry said. I stared at him.

"You have an hour? But- but how are you going to breath for an hour?" I asked.

Harry frowned, chuckling weakly. "I don't know. I suppose that's the next thing we have to figure out."

"Well we'll be helping you every way we can," I said, touching his shoulder. He grinned then asked, "So what are you doing out this late?"

I thought back to the nightmare, to seeing Harry with those wide, unseeing eyes... "Couldn't sleep," I said, avoiding eye contact. "I was going to go flying."

"Do you want me to go outside with you?" he asked. I nodded. "Sure, if you don't mind."

"Here, get under the Cloak," Harry said, bending down and picking it up. He threw it over the two of us and we started walking. "Oh, wait. I should check the Marauders Map, see if Filch or Mrs. Norris is around," Harry said. He pulled out his wand, whispered _"Lumos!"_ then tapped the map with his wand and said, "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good."

Straight away, lines started spreading across the map and the words `_Messrs Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs are proud to present the Marauders Map,' _spread across the top of the map. Harry opened it, and right there was a detailed map of the castle and the grounds, and where everyone was and what they were doing.

Filch and Mrs Norris were safely in their office. No one seemed to be moving except for Peeves, but he was bouncing around in the trophy room. We started walking again, but then Harry stopped. "That's weird..." he whispered. "Look at this."

Harry pointed to the corner of the map where Snape's office was...but the dot wasn't labelled Severus Snape...it was labelled Bartemius Crouch.

"What? But isn't Crouch ill? What the hell is he doing here? At three in the morning?" I whispered. Harry shrugged, clearly as confused as I was. We stood there, watching as the dot moved around and around the room, pausing here and there...

I looked up at Harry, and he was looking at me. We both nodded at the same time, then we turned around and headed off in the direction of Snape's office. We were going to see what Crouch was up to.

We walked down the staircase as quietly as possible, although some of the portraits still turned curiously at the squeak of a floorboard or from the rustle of our pajamas. We crept down the corridor, not speaking to each other, although we didn't have to speak to know what the other was thinking.

We reached a huge tapestry that Harry brushed aside and we were now walking down a much narrower corridor that would lead us down two floors. I kept glancing at the map. It just didn't make any sense, or fit his character, for law-abiding Mr Crouch to sneak into someone else's office at the dead of night...

We were halfway down a staircase when suddenly I felt Harry drop beside me and the cloak slipped over my head. I looked over at Harry and saw that he was stuck in the trick step that Neville always forgets to jump. The only reason I wasn't stuck in it too was because I was a step behind Harry.

I pulled the cloak back over my head and bent down to help Harry out of the step, but then he wobbled and the golden egg fell from his grip and rolled down the steps of the staircase. Me and Harry both lurched forward trying to grab it, but it was too far away- the egg fell down the staircase with a bang as loud as a bass drum on every step- the Invisibility Cloak slipped again, and I reached out to grab it just as Harry went to grab it, then the Marauders Map fluttered out of his hand and slid down six steps, where it was too far for us to get it from under the Cloak.

I started to take the cloak off, but Harry grabbed my hand just as the egg rolled under the tapestry, burst open and started wailing loudly in the corridor. We waited, Harry still holding my hand, and with his free hand he fixed the cloak around us so that we were completely covered. We waited, listening hard, holding hands. My heart was beating so fast and loud that I feared that whoever was going to come and check out what was happening would be able to hear it.

Then, almost immediately-

"PEEVES!"

It was the unmistakable hunting cry of Filch. We could hear his rapid, shuffling footsteps and his wheezy breathing as he drew nearer and nearer.

"What's this racket? Wake up the whole castle, will you? I'll have you, Peeves, I'll have you- what is this?"

Filch's footsteps halted; there was a clink of metal on metal and the wailing stopped- Filch had picked up the egg and closed it. The two of us stood very still, and Harry's leg was still in the magical step...any minute now, Filch was going to pull back the tapestry, thinking that it'll be Peeves, but Peeves wouldn't be there, but if he came up the stairs he would definitely see the Marauders Map...and Invisibility Cloak or not, the map would clearly read `Maximum Ride' and `Harry Potter' standing in this spot.

"Egg?" Filch said quietly at the foot of the stairs. "My sweet!"- obviously Mrs Norris was with him- "This is a Triwizard Clue! This belongs to a school champion!"

My heart was hammering in my chest; my stomach was churning-

"PEEVES!" Filch roared gleefully. I've never heard him sound so happy. "You've been stealing!"

He ripped back the tapestry and I saw his horrible, pouchy face and bulging pale eyes, staring up at the dark, and as far as Filch knew, the deserted staircase.

"Hiding, are you?" he said softly. "I'm coming to get you, Peeves...you've gone and stolen a Triwizard clue, Peeves...Dumbledore'll have you out of here for this, you filthy poltergeist..."

Filch started climbing the stairs, his scrawny, dust-coloured cat at his heels. Mrs Norris's lamp-like eyes, so very like her masters, were fixed directly on us. Not for the first time, I wondered if cats were able to see past Invisibility Cloaks. Sick with apprehension, I watched as Filch drew closer and closer to the Marauders Map in his old flannel dressing gown- beside me, Harry was trying desperately to free his leg. I would of moved out and grabbed the map, but it was too far away for me to get it without being seen.

Harry had no luck getting his leg out. I actually think it sank down into the step more.

"Filch? What's happening?"

Filch stopped a few steps below me and Harry and turned. At the foot of the stairs stood the only person that could of made this situation any worse: Snape. He was wearing a long grey nightshirt and he looked livid.

"It's Peeves, Professor," Filch said. "He threw this egg down the stairs."

Snape climbed the stairs and stood beside Filch. I gritted my teeth and tightened my grip on Harry's hand.

"Peeves?" Snape said softly, staring at the egg in Filch's hand. "But Peeves couldn't get into my office..."

"The egg was in your office, Professor?"

"Of course not!" Snape snapped. "I heard banging and wailing-"

"Yes Professor, that was the egg-"

"-I was coming to investigate-"

"-Peeves threw it, Professor-"

-"and when I passed my office, I saw that the torches were lit and a cupboard door was ajar! Somebody has been searching it!"

"But Peeves couldn't-"

"I know he couldn't Filch!" Snape shouted. "I seal my office with a spell none but a wizard could break through!" Snape looked up at the stairs, straight through us and then down the corridor below. "I want you to come help me search for the intruder, Filch."

"I-yes, Professor- but-"

Filch looked at the stairs desperately, right through us, and I held my breath. I could see that Filch was very reluctant to leave the chance of getting rid of Peeves from the castle forever. Go, I pleaded, just go with Snape...please...

"The thing is, Professor," Filch said, "the headmaster would have to listen to me now. Peeves has been stealing from a student, it might be the only chance to get him out of the castle for good-"

"Filch, I don't care about that damn wretched poltergeist! It's my office that's been-"

Clunk. Clunk. Clunk.

Snape stopped talking very abruptly. He and Filch both looked down at the foot of the stairs. I saw Mad-Eye Moody limp into sight between the narrow gap over their heads. Moody was wearing an old travelling cloak over his nightshirt and he was leaning on his staff as usual.

"Having a pajama party and I wasn't invited?" he growled.

"Professor Snape and I heard noises, Professor," Filch explained. "Peeves the poltergeist has been stealing from students and throwing things around- and then Professor Snape discovered that someone had broken into his of-"

"Shut up!" Snape snapped at once.

Moody took a step closer to the foot of the steps. I saw his magical eye glide over Snape, and then onto me and Harry.

My heart gave a painful jolt. Moody was able to see through the Invisibility Cloak...he alone could see how strange this situation seemed: Snape in his nightshirt; Filch clutching a golden egg; and me and Harry, under and Invisibility Cloak, holding hands, with Harry's leg stuck in a step. For a few seconds, he locked eyes on both of us, then he looked away and turned back to Snape.

"Did I hear that correctly, Snape?" he asked. "Someone broke into your office?"

Snape's lips thinned. "It is unimportant," he said coldly.

"Oh, on the contrary," growled Moody. "it is very important. Who'd want to break into your office?"

"A student, I daresay," Snape said. I could see a vein flickering horribly in Snape's temple. "It has happened before. Potion ingredients have gone missing from my private cupboard...students attempting illicit mixtures, no doubt..."

"Reckon they were only after some potion ingredients?" Moody asked. "Not hiding anything in your office, are you Snape?"

"You know I'm not hiding anything Moody, as you did quite a thorough search of my office yourself."

Moody's mangled face twisted into a smile. "Auror's privilege. Dumbledore asked me to-"

"Dumbledore happens to trust me," Snape snarled through clenched teeth. "I refuse to believe that he has given you orders to search my office!"

"Course Dumbledore trusts you," growled Moody. "He's a trusting man. He believes in second chances. But me- I like to say that there are some spots that just never come off, Snape. You know what I mean?"

Snape suddenly did something very weird- even for him. He seized his left forearm with his right arm, as though something had hurt him.

Moody laughed. "Go back to bed, Snape,"

"You don't have the authority to send me anywhere!" Snape shouted, letting go of his arm as if angry with himself. "I have as much right to prowl this castle at night as you do!"

"Prowl away," Moody said, but his voice was full of menace. "I look forward to meeting you in a dark corridor sometime...you've dropped something, by the way..."

I looked at Harry in horror. Moody was pointing at the Marauders Map. Harry's eyes were wide and sparkling, and he looked very nervous. As Snape and Filch turned to look at it, Harry started waving his hands around and mouthing, "It's mine! It's mine!"

Snape reached for it, a horrible look of comprehension of his face-

_"Accio Parchment!" _

The map flew into the air, slipped through Snape's outstretched fingers, and into Moody's waiting hand.

"My mistake," Moody said calmly. "It's mine. I must have dropped it."

But Snape's black eyes were darting from the map to the egg in Filch's hands, and I could tell that he was putting two and two together as only Snape could.

"Potter," he said quietly.

"What's that?" Moody said calmly, folding up the map and pocketing it.

"Potter!" Snape snarled and he actually turned his head and stared right at the place where we were. "That egg is Potter's. That piece of parchment belongs to Potter! I have seen it before, I recognize it! Potter is here, with his Invisibility Cloak! And no doubt Ride is with him!"

Snape stretched out his hands the way Iggy used to when he was first blind, and started walking up the stairs towards us. We leaned back, trying to get away from his outstretched fingers-

"There's nothing there Snape!" barked Moody. "But I'll be happy to tell you the headmaster would be happy to hear how quickly your mind jumped to Harry Potter and Maximum Ride!"

"Meaning what?" Snape asked, turning around and staring at Moody, his hands inches from my stomach.

"Meaning that Dumbledore is very interested to know who has it in for those two!" Moody moved closer to the foot of the stairs. "And so am I Snape...very interested..." The torchlight flickered over his mangled face so that the scars and the chunk missing from his nose stood out far more then usual.

Slowly, Snape lowered his hands and then he said, "I merely thought that if Potter and Ride were wandering around after hours again...it's an unfortunate habit of theirs...they should be stopped. For their- their own safety."

"Ah, I see," Moody said, "Got Potter and Ride's best interests at heart, have you?"

There was a long pause. I rolled my eyes. Yeah, because Snape had a heart.

"I think I'll go back to bed," Snape said eventually.

"Best idea you've have all day," Moody smiled. "Now, Filch, give me that egg-"

"No!" said Filch, clutching the egg. He reminded me of Gollum from The Lord of The Rings. "Professor Moody, this is evidence of Peeve's treachery. _**  
><strong>_

"It's the property of the champion he stole it from," Moody said. "Hand it over."

Snape swept downstairs and passed Moody without a word. Filch made a chirping noise to Mrs. Norris who stared blankly at us for a few seconds before turning and following her master. I heard Snape walking away down the corridor; Filch handed Moody the egg and disappeared from view too, muttering to Mrs Norris.

"Close save," Moody muttered after we heard a door banging.

"Yeah. Thanks," Harry said.

"What is this thing?" he asked, taking out the Marauders Map and unfolding it. "It's a map of Hogwarts," Harry said reluctantly. I tried pulling Harry out of the step, but he was stuck in there good. I would need help to get him out. I hope Moody offered to help soon.

"Merlin's beard," Moody whispered, staring at the map. "This is some map, Potter."

"Yeah...it's quite useful," I said, still trying to yank Harry's leg free.

"Er- Professor? Do you think you could help Max and get me out of here?" Harry asked.

"What? Oh, yes, yes of course!" Moody said. We both took one of Harry's arm each and pulled him up. His leg came free of the trick step and he climbed onto the same step as me.

Moody said slowly "You didn't happen to see who had broken into Snape's office, by any chance? On the map, I mean?"

We shared a look, and Harry nodded. "Yeah, we did. It was...Mr Crouch."

Moody's magical eye whizzed over the entire map. He looked suddenly alarmed.

"Crouch? Are- are you sure?"

"Positive," Harry said.

"Well, he isn't here anymore," Moody said, his eyes flying over the map. "Crouch...that's very interesting..."

He said nothing for a minute, still staring intently on the map. I could tell that this meant something to Moody, but I didn't dare ask. To be honest Moody scared me a bit. But, he did just stop me and Harry from getting into a lot of trouble...

"Sir?" I asked. "Why do you think Crouch would be in Snape's office?"

Moody's magical eye left the map and focused on me and Harry. I had the impression that he was sizing us up, wondering whether to answer me or not.

"Put it this way, Miss Ride," he said, "they say that old Mad-Eye Moody is obsessed with catching wizard. But he is nothing- nothing- compared to Barty Crouch." He continued to look at the match, even though I was eager to know more.

"Professor Moody?" Harry asked. "D'you think this has anything to do...maybe Mr Crouch thinks that something is happening..."

"Like what?" Moody said sharply.

Harry and I shared a look, not wanting to say too much in case Moody might guess that someone outside Hogwarts has been talking to us. I didn't want any tricky questions about Sirius.

"I don't know," Harry said. "Weird things have been happening lately, right? It's been in the Prophet...the Dark Mark in the sky, the Death Eaters and everything."

Both of Moody's eyes widened.

"You two are quite sharp," he said, nodding in approval. He looked back at the map. "Crouch could be thinking along the same lines," he said slowly. "Very possibly. There have been some strange rumors flying around lately- and Rita Skeeter isn't exactly helping either, of course. Making people nervous." A grim smile twisted on his lopsided mouth. "Oh if there's one thing I hate," he muttered, more to himself then to us, "is a Death Eater that walks free."

I stared at him. He couldn't mean what I thought he meant?

"And now I want to ask the two of us a question," Moody said in a business like voice. I literally felt as if my stomach dropped from my stomach. He was going to ask where we got the map. But the story of how Harry got it didn't only involve me and him, and the others, but also our fathers and Fred and George- and Remus Lupin, our last Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher.

Moody waved the map in front of us and I braced myself-

"Can I borrow this?" he asked finally.

"Oh!" Harry said, clearly relieved. "Yeah okay." I knew Harry was very fond of that map, but I don't think he cared now that Moody wasn't asking where we got it from.

"Good boy," growled Moody. "I can make good use of this...this might be exactly what I've been needing. Right, bed, off with the two of you."

We climbed to the top of the staircase together, Moody still examining the map as if it was treasure. They walked in silence to the door of Moody's office, where he stopped and looked at us.

"Ever thought of being an Auror, Ride, Potter?"

"No," I answered, taken aback.

"Well you should. Especially with your- er, certain abilities, you could make a fine Auror. And you too, Potter. Keep that in mind. Now, I'm guessing you weren't just talking the egg out for a walk tonight, am I right?"

"Yeah," Harry said. "I was trying to work out the clue."

Moody winked at us, his magical eye going mental. "Nothing like a nighttime stroll to give you ideas. See you in the morning."

He went into his office, staring at Marauders Map and closed the door behind him.

We walked slowly back to Gryffindor tower, talking quietly about what just happened, trying to figure it out. Why was Crouch pretending to be ill, and then sneak into Snape's office in the middle of the night? What did he think Snape was hiding in his office that was that important?

And Moody thought that me and Harry were Auror material. Honestly, I never thought I'd live long enough to ever think about a career, and every second of every day I expect to be taken back to the School...but I liked the idea of being an Auror.

Fighting evil people, protecting those who needed protecting... yeah, I thought as I bid Harry goodnight, being an Auror would be pretty awesome.

* * *

><p><em><strong>I AM SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO SORRY! PLEASE FORGIVE ME? :(<strong>_

_**I hope it doesn't take this long for the next chapter, but if it is, please start messaging me or reviewing to get me to do the chapter because then I 'll feel like I was under pressure, and I do better when I'm under pressure :) **_

_**Hope you all forgive me :( **_

_**Anyway, I said enough at the top Authors Note, so here it is, hope you enjoyed the chapter :) **_

_**Love you guys, you're amazing :D**_

_**like always, to get cookies and butterbeer and because of my tardiness, you get chocolate cake! So...**_

_**REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW!**_

_**-Rach ;)**_


	23. The Second Task

_**AUTHORS NOTE! :P**_

_**I AM SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO SORRRRRRRRY! PLEASE DON'T HATE ME! **_

_**It's been over a month, and I am so sorry, but I've just been so busy with school, and gaelic, and everything else, but I hope it doesn't go this long again. I am really sorry :(**_

_**Thanks for all the reviews, alerts and favourites :) I love you guys :) Can we please get to over 300 reviews by the chapter with the Pensieve in it? Pleeeeeease? I would love you all!**_

_**If this takes as long as the last chapter (which I really hope it won't...) I'm sorry but also this chapter is loooooong! So if it take's like, a million years like the last chapter, please don't hate me :(**_

_**Now to answer some reviews... :)**_

_**Arkell26: aw that sucks :/ my sister feel on salad and broke her elbow haha :) **_

_**AnikaandAj: good that you appreciate the cake haha :) Yeah, it was a filler chapter but now it's the second task! :O **_

_**Courtney DiLaurentis: updating, updating, updating! :D**_

_**FlyForver: haha gotta love it when Neville falls into it :D**_

_**Guest: patience, my dear reader, patience...**_

_**KatnissMaximum: I know and it's really annoying and it must be really annoying for you guys too, but for some reason I always get the two mixed up...but I'm working on it!**_

_**SevLoverKat: Because if Harry looked at the map, he would of seen who he really was. **_

_**Oh, who else loves Batman? He's freaking awesome! **_

_**Now, on with the chapter!**_

_**Enjoy!**_

_**-Rach ;)**_

* * *

><p><strong>Max's POV<strong>

"You said that you worked it out!" Hermione said indignantly.

"Keep your voice down!" Harry snapped. "I just need to- sort of fine-tune it, all right?"

The six of us were sitting at the very back of Charms class with a table to ourselves. We were supposed to be practising the opposite of a Summoning Charm today- a Banishing Charm. Because of the potential of someone getting seriously injured in this class, Professor Flitwick gave each student a set of cushions to practice. It was a good idea, but it wasn't working very well. Neville's aim was so bad that he kept sending much heavier objects across the room- like Professor Flitwick.

"Forget about the egg for a minute!" I said as Flitwick went flying passed us and landed on top of a large cabinet. "We're trying to tell you about Moody and Snape."

This was the ideal class for a private conversation, because everyone was having too much fun to notice us or listen. Me and Harry had been telling the others about what happened for at least half and hour and no one was paying us any attention.

"Snape said that Moody searched his office too?" Iggy said, watching as his cushion hit Parvati's head. "What, so Moody here's to keep an eye on Karkaroff and Snape?"

"Well I don't know if that's what Dumbledore asked him to do, but that's sure what he is doing," Harry said. "Moody said Dumbledore only lets Snape stay because he gave him a second chance or something..."

"What?" Ron said, his eyes widening. "Harry...Maybe Moody thinks that Snape put your name into the goblet!"

"Ron," Hermione said, shaking her head, "We thought Snape was trying to kill Harry before, and it only turned out that he was saving his life, remember?"

She banished her cushion and it flew right into the box that we were meant to be putting the cushions into. I looked at Hermione. It was true that Snape had saved Harry's live before, but it was still strange because Snape definitely hated us all, just like he hated my father, Sirius, Harry's father James, and the other Marauders when they went to school together. Snape loved taking points from us, and has certainly never missed the opportunity to give us punishments, or even to suggest that we be suspended from the school.

"I don't care what Moody says," Hermione said. "Dumbledore isn't stupid. He's right to trust Hagrid and Professor Lupin even when most people wouldn't have given them jobs, so why wouldn't he be right about Snape? Even if he is a bit-"

"Evil," Fang said simply. "Come on Hermione, why would all those Dark wizard catches be searching his office then?"

"Why was Mr Crouch pretending to be ill?" Hermione said, ignoring Fang. "It's a bit funny isn't it, that he can't manage to come to the Yule Ball, but he can get up here in the middle of the night and search someone's office?"

"You just don't like Crouch because of what he did to Winky," Iggy said, sending his cushion straight through the window.

"You lot just want to think that Snape is up to something," Hermione said.

"I want to know what Snape did with his first chance to have to get a second one," I said, my cushion landing neatly on top of Hermione's.

Just like Sirius asked, that night Harry and I wrote to him telling him about the night before, with Crouch breaking into Snape's office, and Snape and Moody's conversation. After Freedom left with the letter (we still weren't using Hedwig), we turned to the most important issue at hand: how Harry was going to survive underwater for an hour.

"Of course, the most ideal solution would be to Transfigure yourself into a submarine or something," Hermione said. "If only we'd done human transfiguration already! But I don't think we start that till sixth year, and it can go badly wrong if you don't know what you're doing..."

"Yeah, I don't really want to have to walk around with a periscope sticking out of my head," Harry said. "I s'pose I could always attack someone in front of Moody...he'd probably do it for me."

"I don't think he'd let you choose what you wanted to turn into, though," Hermione said seriously, "No, I think your best chance is some sort of charm."

So the six of us headed to the library, and buried ourselves in the books. I had enough of the library to last me a lifetime. We buried ourselves in massive dusty volumes, looking for a spell that would help Harry breath under water for an hour. However, even though there were six of us searching (and Nudge would help us sometimes) during breaks, at lunch, evenings, and whole weekends- Harry even asked Professor McGonagall for a note to use the Restricted Section, and even asked the vulture-like librarian Madam Pince for help- we still found nothing whatsoever.

I could tell that Harry was getting nervous again, and so was I. I found that every time I passed a window, the large dark lake would catch my eye.

Just like before the first task, it seemed like time was going much too fast. There was a week to go until February twenty-fourth (still time for Harry to figure it out)...there were five days (we were bound to find something soon)...three days (please let us find something...please...)

Two days to go, and I noticed that Harry started going off food again. The only good thing about breakfast on Monday was that Freedom came back with a reply from Sirius, the shortest answer that we've ever gotten back for him.

_Send date for next Hogsmeade weekend by return owl as soon as possible. _

I turned it over, hoping to see something else, but it was blank. "Weekend after next," Fang said, reading the letter over my shoulder.

"Here, take, my quill and send it back straight away," Hermione said, handing me her quill. I took it in my left hand and quickly scribbled down when the next Hogsmeade weekend was and tied it to Freedom's leg. I gave him some of my cereal and toast, then some water. He nipped at my fingers affectionately, and I watched him fly away.

"What's he want to know when the next Hogsmeade weekend is?" Ron asked.

"Dunno," I said. The tiny bit of happiness that had flared inside me at the sight of the owl disappeared. "Come on...we have Care of Magical Creatures..."

Whether Hagrid was trying to make up for the Blast-Ended Skrewts, or because there was only two of them left, or because he was trying to prove that he could do anything Professor Grubbly-Plank could, I didn't know, but Hagrid had been continuing on with the lessons on unicorns ever since he came back to work. It turned out that Hagrid knew quite as much about unicorns as he did about monsters, though it was obvious that he found their lack of fangs and claws disappointing.

Today he had managed to capture two unicorn foals. Instead of bright white, the foals were gold. I had to admit, they were freaking adorable and I said "Aw," along with all the other girls. I may be able to kick anyone's ass from here to next Tuesday, but I still found things cute. Like little baby unicorns for example, and owls, and Harry's eyes-

Okay, I never said that. Let's continue.

"Easier ter spot then adults," Hagrid was explained to the class. "They turn silver when they're abou' two years old, an' they grow horns at aroun' four. Don' go pure white till they're full grown, 'round about seven. They're a bit more trustin' when they're babies...don' mind boys as much...C'mon, move it a bit, yeh can pet 'em if yeh want...give 'em a few o' these sugar lumps..."

While everyone swarmed around the baby unicorns, Hagrid walked over to us.

"You okay, Harry?" Hagrid asked. I could tell that Hagrid wanted to talk to Harry on his own, but he didn't want to say it, so I grabbed the others and dragged them closer over to the unicorn. I could still hear what they were saying though.

"Yeah," Harry said.

"Jus' nervous, eh?" Hagrid said, smiling warmly.

"Bit," Harry said.

"Harry," Hagrid said, "I'd've bin worried before I saw yeh take on tha Horntail, but I know now that yeh can anythin' yeh set yer mind ter. I'm not worried at all. Yeh're goin' ter be fine. Got yer clue worked out, haven' yeh?"

I looked over my shoulder and saw Harry nod, a strained grin on his face.

"Yeh're goin' ter win," Hagrid said, smiling proudly, patting Harry's shoulder. "I know it. I can feel it. Yeh're goin' ter win."

Harry smiled again, then told Hagrid that he wanted to see the unicorns closer and then he walked over to us, quieter then usual.

It was the evening before the second task, and Harry seemed to be doing his best not to panic. Even if he did find something suitable for breathing under water, he'd have to master it overnight, something we aren't very good at doing.

The seven of us (Nudge was helping us) sat in the library as the sun set, tearing through pages, trying to find something, _anything _in the old books. I kept cracking my neck, trying to get the stiffness out of it. It's been stiff for days, especially at the sides. I rubbed my neck and looked back at the old books. My heart leapt every time I saw the word `water' on a page, put it was always just `add a teaspoon of water' or `take a pint of water'. Nothing that was useful to use in any way.

"I reckon that it can't be done," Iggy said, closing the huge book he had been looking through. He still wasn't as good at reading as the rest of us, having only gotten his eye sight back four years ago, but he was improving all the time. "Closest thing I found was how to drain puddles ponds with a Drought Charm. If you want to try that on the lake, go ahead, but I don't think it will work," he finished in a very sarcastic voice.

"There much be something," Hermione said, moving the candle closer to her. Her eyes were so tired that she was practically nose to nose with the page. "They would never have given a task that was undoable."

"Course they would," Ron said. "Harry listen, all you can do is go down to the lake tomorrow, stick your head in the lake and yell at the merpeople to give back whatever they took. Best thing to do, mate."

"There's a way of doing it," Hermione said determinedly. "There has to be!"

She seemed to be taking the library's lack of information as a personal insult. It's never failed her before.

"I know what I should of done," Harry said, lying down with his head on a book. "I should have learned to become an Animagus, like Sirius."

An Animagus was a wizard that could turn into an animal of their choice any time they wanted.

"Yeah, you could turn into a goldfish anytime you wanted," Nudge yawned.

"Or a frog," Harry said. He looked exhausted. We all did. None of us ever looked this bad when we were on the run with Jeb.

"Oh, come on. It would take years to become an Animagus," Fang said, leaning back in his chair.

"And you have to register and everything," Hermione said. We all stared at her. "Remember? McGonagall told us that you have to register with the Improper Use of Magic Office...what animal you become, your makrings. So you don't abuse it."

"Hermione I was joking," Harry said. "I know that I haven't a hope in becoming a frog by tomorrow morning."

"This is bloody useless," I said, snapping shut Weird Wizarding Dilemmas. "Who the hell wants to grow their nose hairs into ringlets?"

"I wouldn't mind it," came Fred's voice from behind the book cases. "It would be a conversation starter, wound't it?"

We looked around and saw Fred and George emerge from behind the bookcases.

"What are you two doing here?" Iggy asked.

"Looking for you lot," Fred said. "McGonagall wants to see you all. Well, all of you except for Harry."

"Why?" Nudge asked, surprised. "Are we in trouble? What did we do? I didn't do anything." She looked at us, glaring. "If you lot did something to get me into trouble, I will kill you."

"We dunno why she wants you," George said. "She looked quite grim though."

"We're supposed to take you to her office," Fred said.

We stared at Harry, who looked back with wide eyes. Was McGonagall going to give out to us for helping Harry? Was she going to tell us to let him figure it out on his own?

"We'll meet you back in the common room, okay?" I asked, standing up. He nodded, giving me a strained grin.

"Bring as much books back as you can," Hermione said as we walked out of the library.

"Right," Harry said.

We stood outside McGonagall's office, not really wanting to go in. We could hear voices inside.

"Good luck," Fred said, winking, as him and George walked off.

I knocked on the door, and heard, "Come in." But it wasn't McGonagall's voice- it was Dumbledore's.

I opened the door and we piled in. Dumbledore, McGonagall, Madame Maxime, Karkaroff, Ludo Bagman and Percy Weasley were standing against the wall, and Cho Chang and a little girl that looked like Fleur's little sister were sitting in chairs, looking slightly nervous.

"Ah, we can get started," Dumbledore said, rubbing his hands together. He seemed to be in his usual, cheerful, insane mood, but the twinkle was missing from his eyes.

"This is about the second task tomorrow. The champions are going to have to retrieve something that the merpeople took from them at the bottom of the lake. They will have one hour to do so. Those things they have to retrieve will be you."

We stared at him.

"I apologise, only four of you will be doing this. Miss Chang, Miss Delacour, Miss Granger and Miss Ride," Dumbledore said.

"Then why are we here, sir?" Fang asked.

Dumbledore looked at Percy, who said, "It seems that you have been helping Mr Potter too much. It would best if he figured it out on his own." Dumbledore looked like he was trying not to glare at Percy. Well, I did glare at Percy, who pretended not to notice.

"So we have to stay under water for an hour until someone finds us?" I asked.

"Yes, but there will be no way for anyone of you to drown. I shall place the four of you under a bewitched sleep, and the merpeople will make sure that nothing will happen to you," Dumbledore said. He turned to Fang, Iggy, Ron and Nudge. "Now, you four. You are to return to the Gryffindor common room, and go straight to bed. You have to do your best to avoid Harry, or he'll be asking questions."

They nodded, looked at us, Nudge smiling at us nervously, then they walked out.

"Who are we all going to be er- hostages for?" Hermione asked after Ron closed the door.

"Oh yes, of course. Miss Granger, you shall be, as you call it, a hostage for Mr Krum."

Hermione blushed a deep red and looked down at her feet. Karkaroff didn't look too happy about it.

"Miss Chang, you shall be waiting on Mr Diggory. Miss Delacour, your sister will be getting you, and Miss Ride, you're Mr Potter's hostage," Dumbledore explained as Madame Maxime translated to Fleur's sister the words she didn't know.

I blushed. They thought I was the thing Harry would miss most? Me? Where the hell did they pull that from?

"What happens if we aren't found in the hour?" Hermione asked.

"Absolutely nothing. If you aren't found in the provided time, the merpeople will bring you back to the surface. There is honestly no danger to any of you," McGonagall said.

"If any of you do not want to participate, no one will blame you. You don't not have to do this if you do not want to," Dumbledore said. No one moved. He smiled. "Excellent. Now, if you wouldn't mind, I think it's time to start with the bewitched sleep. I'll start with Miss Chang."

He walked over to Cho, who gave a nervous grin. He waved his wand and muttered under his breath, then Cho slumped in her seat, asleep. Dumbledore then did the same spell on Fleur's sister, who fell straight asleep too. Then he turned to Hermione, who shuffled her feet nervously before falling to the ground, fast asleep.

"Why did you pick me?" I blurted as Dumbledore turned towards me.

"Pardon?" he asked.

"Why did you pick me as Harry's hostage?" I asked, looking up at him. He smiled warmly.

"At first, we weren't sure which of you to choose. We were close to choosing Mr Weasley, but then I saw you and Harry dancing together at the Yule Ball. I'm sure that you are the thing he will miss most."

I stared at him, trying not to grin. The last thing that crossed my mind before I fell into darkness was that _I was the thing that Harry would miss the most. _

* * *

><p><em><strong>Harry's POV <strong>_

By nine o'clock, Madam Pince had extinguished the lamps and was ushering me out the door. Stumbling over the weight of the many books, I made my way slowly back to the common room. It was empty when I got in, so I pulled a table in the corner and continued to search through the books. There was nothing in Madcap Magic for Wacky Warlocks...nothing in A Guide to Medieval Sorcery...not one mention of anything to do with water in An Anthology of Eighteenth-Century Charms...

Crookshanks climbed onto my lap, curled up and started purring loudly. By ten to midnight, Ron, Hermione, Max, Iggy, Fang and Nudge hadn't come back. _**(AN: to avoid confusion, they're all in their dormitories, and Harry doesn't go up there) **_

It's over, I told myself. I can't do it. I'll just have to go down to the lake tomorrow morning and tell the judges...

I imagined myself going down there in the morning, explaining that I couldn't do the task. I pictured Bagman's round, surprised eyes, Karkaroff's satisfied grin. I could almost hear Fleur's voice saying, "I knew it...'e is too young, 'e is only a little boy..." I saw Malfoy flashing his **POTTER STINKS! **badge at the front of the crowd, I saw Hagrid's crestfallen, disbelieving face...I saw Max's disappointed expression...

Forgetting that Crookshanks was on my lap, I stood up fast. Crookshanks hissed angrily as he landed on the floor, gave me a disgusted look, then stalked up the stairs with his tail in the air, but I was already walking over to the couch to get my bag. I opened it and pulled out my Invisibility Cloak and threw it over me. Checking that I was completely covered, I walked out of the common room. I was going to go back to the library and stay there all night if I had to.

_"Lumos!"_ I whispered ten minutes later when I stood outside the library door.

Wand tip alight, I crept along the bookshelves, pulling down more and more books, each ones that I hoped would hold the answers I needed...books on merpeople, on water, on charms, on water monsters, on famous witches or wizards, or magical inventions, on anything at all that might include one passing reference to breathing underwater. I carried all the books over to a table and set them down, and started searching...again.

Every now and then, I'd check my watch...one in the morning...two in the morning...the only way I could keep going was to tell myself that it was in the next one, in the next one...

The mermaid was laughing. I was bobbing like a cork in the water next to her, while he held my Firebolt over my head.

"Come and get it!" she giggled. "Come on, jump!"

"I can't!" I panted, snatching at the Firebolt, and struggling not to drown. "Give it to me!"

But she just poked me painfully in the ribs with the end of the broomstick, laughing at me.

"Ouch- that hurts- get off- ow-"

"Harry Potter must wake up sir!"

"Stop poking me-"

"Dobby must poke Harry Potter, sir, he must wake up!"

I opened my eyes. I was still in the library; the Invisibility Cloak had slipped off my head as I slept, and the side of my face was stuck to the pages of a book. I sat up, straightening my glasses, blinking in the sudden sun light.

"Harry Potter needs to hurry!" Dobby squeaked. "The second task starts in ten minutes, and Harry Potter-"

"Ten minutes? Ten- ten minutes?" I croaked.

I looked down at my watch. Dobby was right. It was twenty past nice. My stomach dropped right to the ground.

"Hurry, Harry Potter!" squeaked Dobby, pulling at my sleeve. "You is supposed to be down at the lake with the other champions, sir!"

"It's too late, Dobby," I said hopelessly. "I can't do the task. I don't know how-"

"Harry Potter will do the task!" Dobby said. "Dobby knew Harry Potter had not found the right book, so Dobby did it for him!"

"But you couldn't have. You don't know what the second task is."

"Dobby knows, sir! Harry Potter has to go into the lake and find his Birdie-"

"Find my what?"

"-and take his Birdie back from the merpeople!"

"What's a Birdie?"

"Your Birdie, sir. The girl that flies, Harry Potter. With the yellow hair, sir."

"What?" I gasped, my heart beating fast. "They've got...they've got Max?"

"The thing Harry Potter will miss most, sir!" Dobby said, pulling on my sleeve again. "`But past an hour-'"

"-`the prospects black,'" I finished, remembering the song. "`Too late, it's gone, it won't come back.' Dobby-what do I have to do?"

"You has to eat this, sir!" squeaked the elf. He put his hand into the pocket of his shorts and drew out a ball of what looked like slimy, greenish-greyish rat tails. "Right before you go into the lake, sir! Gillyweed!"

"What's it do?" I asked, staring at the gillyweed.

"It will make Harry Potter breathe under water, sir!"

"Dobby," I said frantically, "Are you sure about this?"

I couldn't but think that the last time Dobby tried to help me, I ended up with no bones in my right arm.

"Dobby is quite sure, sir!" Dobby said. "Dobby hears things, sir, he is a house-elf, he goes all over the castle as he lights fires and mops floors. Dobby heard Professor McGongall and Professor Moody talking in the staff room...Dobby cannot let Harry Potter loose Biride!"

My doubts vanished. Jumping to my feet, I pulled the Invisibility Cloak off me, stuffed it into my bag, grabbed the gillyweed and put it into my pocket, then I sprinted out of the library with Dobby at my heels.

"Dobby is supposed to be in the kitchens, sir!" Dobby squealed as we burst into the corridor. "Dobby will be missed- good luck, Harry Potter sir!"

"See you later Dobby!" I called as I sprinted down the stairs, three at a time.

The entrance hall contained a few last minute stragglers, all leaving the Great Hall after breakfast and heading through the oak doors to watch the task. They stared as I rushed past, calling back apologized when I banged into someone.

As I ran down the lawn towards the lake, I saw that the seats that had been surrounding the dragon enclosure were not spread around the bank. The excited babble of the crowd echoed strangely across the water as I ran, flat-out towards the judges, who were sitting at another gold-draped table at the water's edge. Cedric, Fleur and Krum were standing beside the table, watching me as I sprinted towards them.

"I'm...here..." I panted, skidding to a stop beside the table and accidentally splattering mud all over Fleur's robes.

"Where have you been?" asked a disapproving, bossy voice. "The tasks about to start!"

I looked around. Percy Weasley was sitting at the judges table- Mr Crouch had failed to turn up again.

"Now, now Percy," said Ludo Bagman, who looked a bit too relieved to see me. "Let the boy catch his breath."

Dumbledore smiled at me, but Karkaroff and Maxime didn't look too happy to see me at all. It was obvious from the looks on their faces that they thought I wasn't going to come.

I bent over, hands on my knees, gasping for breath. I had a stitch in my side that felt like a knife went between my ribs, but there was no time to get rid of it. Ludo Bagman was now walking among the champions, spacing them out along the bank with ten feet between each champion. I was at the end of the line, next to Krum who was wearing swimming trunks and had his wand ready.

"Alright Harry?" Bagman whispered. "Know what you're going to do?"

"Yeah," I panted, massaging my ribs. He gave me a quick squeeze on the shoulder and went back to the judges' table; he pointed his wand at his throat, like he did at the world cup, and said, _"Sonorus!" _and his voice echoed all around the lake.

"Well, all our champions are ready for the second task, which will start on my whistle. They have exactly one hour to recover what has been taken from them. On the count of three, then. One..."

I looked over at the crowd. The noise seemed to dim down.

"Two..."

I still couldn't see any of my friends. I looked around the crowd again, and spotted a flash of fiery red hair, and a bit of dark black hair-

"Three!"

The whistle echoed shrilly across the cold, still air; the stands erupted with cheers and applause; without looking to see what the other champions were doing, I reached down and pulled off my socks and shoes, threw them behind me, then I pulled out of the gillyweed from my pocket and stuffed it into my mouth. As I chewed on it, I waded out to the lake. The sound of the cheers dimmed as if I had suddenly gone deaf, and all I feel was the cold water seeping through my clothes.

It was so cold I could feel the skin on my legs searing as if they were in fire, not icy water. My sodden robes weighed me down as I walked in deeper; now the water was over my knees and my rapidly numbing feet were slipping over the slimy rocks. I was chewing the gillyweed as fast and as hard as I could; it felt rubbery and slimy and reminded me of octopus tentacles. Waist deep in the water I stopped, swallowing, and waited for something to happen.

I could hear laughter coming from the crowd and knew that I looked incredibly stupid, walking into the middle of lake and not showing any magical power. The part of me that as still dry was covered in goosebumps; half immersed in the icy water, a cruel breeze was making my dark hair go everywhere and I started shivering violently. I avoided looking at the stands; the laughter was becoming louder and there were catcalls and jeers, which I'm guessing was coming from the Slytherins.

Suddenly, I felt like there was an invisible pillow covering my nose and mouth. I tried drawing breath, but it just made my head spin; my lungs were empty and there was a piercing pain in my neck...

I clapped my hands around my throat and felt two large slits just below my ears, flapping in the cold wind...I had gills. Without pausing to think, I dived straight into the water.

The first gulp of icy lake water felt like a breath of live. My head stopped spinning and my lungs didn't feel like they were on fire anymore. I took another gulp of water and felt it pass smoothly through my gills, sending oxygen back to my brain. I stretched out my hands in front of me ans stared at them. They looked green and ghostly under the water, and they were webbed. I twisted around and looked at my bare feet- they had become webbed too. It looked like I got flippers.

The water didn't feel cold any more. I actually felt cool and light. I struck out again, amazed at how fast and how far my flipper-feet took me through the water, and noticing how clearly I could see, and how I didn't have to blink. I had swum so far into the lake that I could no longer see the bottom. I flipped over and dived straight down.

Silence pressed down on my ears as I soared over the dark, strange, foggy landscape. It kinda felt like I was flying, except I didn't have a broomstick. So maybe this was what Max was always making a fuss about...

I could only see about ten feet around me, so as I sped through the water, new scenes would suddenly come out of the looming darkness- forests of rippling, black weed, wide plains of mud littered with dull, glistening stones. I swam deeper and deeper, right into the middle of the lake, my eyes wide open.

Small fish flickered past me like silver darts. Once or twice I thought I saw something bigger then the fish in front of me, but when I got closer, I discovered that it was only a log, or a dense lump of weed. There were no sign of any of the other champions, merpeople, Max- or thankfully, the giant squid.

Light green weed stretched out in front of me as far as I could see, two feet deep, like a meadow of overgrown grass. I stared unblinkingly ahead of me, trying to figure out the shapes in the gloom- then without warning, something grabbed hold of my ankle.

I twisted around quickly and saw a grindylow, a small, horned creature, poking out from the weed, it's long fingers clutching my ankle with bruising force, it's sharp fangs bared- I stuck my webbed hand into my robes and fumbled to get my wand. By the time I got a hold on it, two more grindylow's rose from the weed and grabbed onto my robes, trying to drag me down to the bottom of the lake-

_"Relashio!" _I shouted, but no sound came out. Instead, a stream of large bubbles came from my mouth, and instead of my wand sending sparks at the grindylows, it pelted them with a jet of boiling water. Where it struck them, red angry patches appeared on their green skin. I pulled my ankle out of the grindylow's grip and swam on as fast as I could, occasionally sending more jets of hot water over my shoulder at random; every now and then I'd feel a grindylow grabbing at my foot and I'd kick out, hard; finally, I felt my foot connect with the grindylows face and looked back to see a dazed grindylow floating away while the others shook their fists angrily at me before swimming away.

I slowed down a little, and slipped my wand clumsily back into my robes. I looked around, listening. I turned in a full circle in the water, the silence pressing even harder against my eardrums. I knew I was even deeper into the lake now, but nothing was moving except for the weed...

"How are you getting on?"

I jumped (although I have no idea how I jumped in the water but I still managed it somehow) and looked behind me to see Moaning Myrtle floating in the water, gazing at me.

"Myrtle!" I tried to shout, but once again, nothing came out of my mouth but bubbles. Moaning Myrtle actually giggled.

"You want to try over there," Myrtle said, pointing to my right. "I won't come with you...I don't like them much, they always chase me what I get too close..."

I gave her the thumbs up to show my thanks and set off in the direction she pointed me in, careful to swim a bit higher over the weed to avoid any more grindylows.

I swam on for about twenty minutes, passing over wide expanses of black mud which swirled murkily as I disturbed the water. Then, finally, I heard a snatch of haunting mersong.

"An hour long you'll have to look,

And to recover what we took..."

I swam faster then before and soon saw a large rock emerge out of the muddy water ahead. It had paintings of merpeople on it; they were all carrying spears and chasing what seemed to be the giant squid. I swam past the rock, following the mersong.

"...you're time's half gone, so tarry not,

Lest what you seek stay here to rot..."

A cluster of stone dwellings loomed ahead out of the gloom on all sides. Here and there at the dark windows, I saw faces...faces that bore no resemblance to the beautiful mermaid on the window in the prefects bathroom...

The merpeople had greyish skin and long, dark green hair. There eyes were yellow, as were their broken teeth, and they wore pieces of rope and pebbles around their necks. They leered at me as I passed- one or two of them even got out of their caves to watch me swim passed, their powerful fish tails beating the water, spears clutched in their hands.

I sped on, staring around, hoping to catch a glimpse of Max, but soon the dwellings became more numerous; there were gardens of weed around some of them, and I even saw one had a pet grindylow tied to a stake outside a door. That was just freaky.

Merpeople were emerging from all sides now, watching me eagerly and pointing at my webbed hands and feet, talking behind their hands to one another. I sped around a corner and a very strange sight met my eyes.

A whole crowd of merpeople were floating in front of the houses that lined what looked like a mer-version of a village square. A choir of merpeople were singing in the middle, calling the champions towards them, a crude statue behind them;a gigantic merperson carved from a boulder. Four people were bound tightly to the tail of the merperson.

Max was tied between Hermione and Cho Chang, and beside Cho was a girl that had to be Fleur's sister. The four of them appeared to be in a deep sleep, with their heads lolling against their shoulders and a stream of bubbles kept issuing out of their mouths.

I sped towards the hostages, half expecting the merpeople to come charging at me with their spears, but they did nothing. The ropes of weed that was tying the hostages to the statue was thick and slimy, and very strong. For a fleeting moment I thought of the knife Sirius sent me for Christmas- locked in my trunk in the school a quarter of a mile away, absolutely useless to me now. Then I remembered that Sirius gave one to Max too. I searched her pockets quickly, but it turned out she didn't have it with her either.

I looked around desperately. Many of the merpeople surrounding me were carrying spears. I swam towards a seven-foot-tall merman with a long green beard and a choker of shark fangs and I tried to mime a request to borrow his spear. The merman laughed and shook his head.

"We do not help," he said in a harsh, cold voice.

"Come ON!" I snapped fiercely (but only bubbles came from my mouth) and I tried to pull the spear desperately from the merman, but the merman yanked it back, shaking his head and laughing.

I swirled around, looking for something, anything...

There were rocks littering the lake bottom. I dived straight down and snatched up a jagged rock and returned to the statue. I began hacking at the ropes around Max's ankle's, and finally after a few minutes' hard work, they broke apart. Max floated, unconscious, a few inches from the lake bottom.

I looked around. There was no sign of any of the other champions. What were they doing? Why didn't they hurry up? I looked back at Hermione, and raised the jag rock, and began hacking at her ropes too-

Straight away, strong grey hands grabbed my arms, pulling me away from Hermione, shaking their heads and laughing.

"You take your own hostage," one said, nodding towards Max. "Leave the others."

"No way!" I said furiously- but only two large bubbles came out.

"Your task if to retrieve your friend. Leave the others."

"She's my friend too!" I said, pointing at Hermione, an enormous bubble emerging soundlessly from my lips. "And I don't want them to die either!"

Cho's head was on Hermione's shoulder, and Fleur's sister was was ghostly green and pale. Max's hair was in front of her face and in the gloom, her usual dark blonde hair looked black. I struggled to fight off the mermen, but they just laughed harder then before and held me even tighter. I looked around widly. Where were the other champions? Would I have to take Max back to the surface and come back for the others? Would I even be able to find them again? I looked down at my watch to see how much time I had left- it had stopped working.

But then the merpeople started pointing excitedly over my head. I looked up and saw Cedric swimming towards us. There was an enormous bubble around his head, and it made his features seem oddly wide and stretched.

"Get lost!" he mouthed. "Fleur and Krum are coming now!"

Feeling enormously relieved, I watched Cedric pull a knife out of his pocket and he freed Cho. He pulled her towards him and they vanished from sight.

I looked around. Where was Fleur and Krum? Time was getting short, according to the song, and the hostages would be lost after an hour...

Suddenly, the merpeople started shrieking. The merpeople holding me loosened their grip and looked behind them. I turned and saw something monstrous cutting through the water towards us: a human body in swimming trunks with the head of a shark...it was Krum. He had Transfigured himself- but very badly.

The shark-man swam straight at Hermione and began snapping and biting at her ropes; the trouble was that Krum's new teeth were positioned very awkwardly for biting anything smaller then a dolphin, and I was sure that if Krum wasn't careful, he'd rip Hermione in half. Darting forward, I hit Krum hard on the shoulder and held up the jagged rock. Krum grabbed it and began to cut Hermione free. Within seconds, he had done it; he grabbed Hermione around the waist and without a backward glance, he began to rise rapidly towards the surface.

Now what? I thought desperately. If I just knew that Fleur was coming...but there was still no sign of her. There was nothing to be done except...

I snatched up the stone, which Krum had dropped, but the mermen now closed in around Max and the little girl, shaking their heads at them. I pulled out my wand.

"Get out of the way!"

Only bubbles flew out of my mouth, but I had a distinct impression that the mermen understood, because they suddenly stopped laughing. Their yellowish eyes were fixed on my wand, and they looked scared. There might be a lot more of them then there were of me, but they probably didn't know any more magic then the giant squid did.

"You've got until three!" I shouted; a giant stream of bubbles burst from my mouth, but I held up three fingers to make sure they got the message. "One..." (I put down a finger) "Two..." (I put down the second finger)-

They scattered. I darted forward and started hacking at the ropes binding the little girl to the statue, and at last she was free. I grabbed Max around the waist, and held onto the little girl's hand, and kicked off from the bottom of the lake.

It was very slow work. I couldn't use my hands to propel myself forward; I worked my flippers furiously, but Max and Fleur's sister were like potato-filled sacks dragging me down...don't tell Max I said that, or she'll kill me.

I fixed my eyes skyward, though I knew that I was still very deep down, the water above me still very dark.

Merpeople were rising with me. I could see them swirling around me with ease, watching me struggle through the water...Would they pull me back down to the depths when the time was up? My legs were seizing up with the effort to keep swimming...my shoulders were aching with the combined weight of Max and the little girl...

I was drawing breath with great difficulty. I could feel pain in my neck again...I was becoming aware of how wet the water felt in my mouth...yet the darkness was definitely fading...I could see daylight above me...

I kicked hard with my flippers and discovered that they were nothing more then just feet...water was flooding through my mouth into my lungs...I was starting to feel dizzy, but I knew that light and air were only ten feet above me...I had to get there...I had to...

I kicked my legs so fast and so hard that it was as if my muscles were screaming in protest; my brain felt waterlogged, I couldn't breath. I needed oxygen. I had to keep going. I couldn't stop-

And then my head broke the surface of the water. Wonderful, clean air was making my wet face sting. I sucked in the air, letting my breath even out. It was like I never breathed oxygen before, and panting, I pulled up Max and little girl with me. All around me, wild green-haired heads were emerging out of the water, and they were smiling at me.

I looked at Max, who was opening her brown eyes. She saw me and smiled. I beamed back at her, feeling a massive weight lifted from my shoulders.

I had completed the second task. It was done. I did it.

* * *

><p><em><strong>Max's POV <strong>_

I opened my eyes, blinking in the sudden bright light. I had no idea where I was or what was happening. I was in water, and when I looked around I saw Harry was beside me with his hand around my waist, keeping me up.

Then I remembered- the second task. I looked around again and saw everyone watching us, cheering and clapping.

I looked back to Harry, smiling. He did it. He managed to get me back from the merpeople- not that I was happy about him having to `rescue' me. I was no damsel in distress.

"This is kinda wet," I said, splashing the water. Then I moved through the water to Harry and hugged him. "You did it," I said in his ear. I pulled away, and I saw that he was also holding up another girl- Fleur's sister.

She looked scared and confused. "Why did you bring her?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Fleur didn't show up. I couldn't leave her," Harry panted.

"You moron," I said bluntly. He stared at me. "Oh, Harry, please tell me that you didn't take that song seriously. Dumbledore wasn't going to let any of us drown!"

"The song said-"

"That was just so you did what you had to do in the time limit!" I said. "I hope you didn't waste much time down there trying to save everyone!"

Harry frowned, and I could tell that he felt not only stupid, but annoyed.

"C'mon," he said eventually. "Help me with her. I don't think she can swim very well."

Together, we pulled Fleur's sister through the water, back to the bank where the judges stood waiting, twenty merpeople accompanying them like a guard of honour, singing their terrible screechy songs.

I could see Madam Pomfrey fussing over Hermione, Krum, Cedric and Cho, and of whom were wrapped tightly in thick blankets.

Dumbledore and Ludo Bagman stood beaming and me and Harry from the bank as we swam closer, but Percy, who was looking very white and somehow much younger than usual, came splashing out to meet up. When he got close enough to us, and we were able to stand, he grabbed my arm and helped me up. I stared at him, wondering why he was helping me. Last night he didn't even seem to care what was going to happen.

I gave Percy a small grin, noticing how he looked concerned, but then I turned back around and helped Harry with the little girl. Behind us, Madame Maxime was trying to restrain Fleur, who was hysterical.

"Gabrielle! Gabrielle! Is she alive! Is she 'urt?"

Harry tried to tell her that she was all right, but Fleur managed to break free from Madame Maxime's hold and she was hugging her sister. "It was ze grindylows...zey attacked me...Oh, Gabrielle, I thought...I thought..."

"Come here you," Madame Maxime said. She seized Harry and me and pulled us over to Hermione and the others, wrapped us both in blankets so tightly it felt like I was in a straitjacket, and she forced a measure of very hot potion down my throat. Steam actually gushed from my ears.

"Harry well done!" Hermione said. "You did it, you found out how all by yourself!" Fang, Iggy, Nudge and Ron walked over to us, and they smiled at us.

"Everyone was thinking you guys drowned," Iggy said after hugging me and Harry. "You were nearly ten minutes out of the time limit. Everyone thought you drowned."

Fang gave me one of his lop-sided smiles and gave me a one armed hug. I was something rare from Fang, so I didn't complain.

"So how long did it take you to find out how to do it?" Ron asked.

"Well-" Harry said, put stopped. He was looking at something over my shoulder. I turned around and saw that he was staring at Karkaroff, who was looking at us. He was the only judge that didn't leave the table, or show any signs that he was relieved that me, Harry and Gabrielle were okay. "It didn't take me that long," he said loud enough for Karkaroff to hear him.

"You haff a water beetle in your hair, Herm-own-ninny," Krum said. I had the feeling that Krum was trying to draw her attention back to him; maybe to remind her that he saved her in the lake, but Hermione just pushed the beetle away impatiently and said, "You're well outside the time limit though, Harry...Did it take you long to find us?"

"No, I found you okay..."

Dumbledore was crouching at the water's edge, deep in conversation with what seemed like the chief merperson, a particularly fierce looking female. He was making the same kind of screeching noises that the merpeople made when they were above water. Clearly, Dumbledore could speak Mermish. Finally, he straightened up, turned to his fellow judges and said, "A conference before we give the marks, I think."

The judges went into a huddle. Madame Pomfrey had gone to fetch Fleur and her sister. Fleur had many cuts on her face and arms and her robes were torn, but she didn't seem to care, nor would she allow Madam Pomfrey to clean them.

"Look after Gabrielle," she kept saying, then she turned to me and Harry. "You saved 'er." she said breathlessly. "Even though she was not your 'ostage."

"Yeah," said Harry, looking awkward.

Fleur bent down and kissed Harry once on each cheek. Harry's face went a deep red, and I clenched my teeth. But then Fleur turned to me. "And you too- you 'elped."

"Just a bit," I said, my hands clenched into fists at my sides. Fleur hugged me tightly and thanks us both again. She smiled at the others, then went back to her sister.

Ludo Bagman's magically magnified voice boomed around us, making us all jump, and causing the crowd in the stands to go quiet.

"Ladies and gentlemen, we have reached our decision. Merchieftainess Murcus has told us exactly what happened at the bottom of the lake. We have therefore decided to award marks out of fifty for each of the champions, as follows...

"Fleur Delacour, though she demonstrated great use of the Bubble Head Charm, was attacked by grindylows as she approached her goal, and failed to retrieve her hostage. We award Miss Delacour twenty-five points."

Applause rose from the stands.

"I deserve a zero," Fleur mumbled miserably.

"Cedric Diggory, who also used the Bubble Head Charm, was the first to return with his hostage, though he returned one minute outside the limit of an hour." Enormous cheers rose from the Hufflepuffs in the crowd, and I saw Cho giving Cedric a glowing look. I thought I'd throw up. "We therefore award him forty-seven points."

I saw Harry's face fall. If Cedric had been outside the time limit, Harry definitely had been.

"Viktor Krum used an incomplete Transfiguration, which was nevertheless effective, and was second to return with his hostage. We award him forty points."

Karkaroff clapped particularly hard, looking very superior.

"Harry Potter used gillyweed to great effect," Bagman said. "He returned last, and was well outside the time limit on an hour. However, the Merchieftainess informs us that Harry Potter was the first to reach the hostages, and that the delay in his return was due to his determination to save not just his hostage, but to return all the hostages to safety."

We all looked at Harry, smiling.

"Most of the judges," Bagman gave Karkaroff a very nasty look "feels that this shows moral fiber and deserves full marks. However...we award Mr Potter forty-five marks."

Harry's eyes widened. He was now tying with Cedric. We stared at him, then we all started laughing and cheering with the rest of the crowd.

"There you go Harry!" I laughed. "You weren't being stupid- you were showing moral fiber!"

"The third task will take place at dusk on the twenty-fourth of June," continued Bagman. "The champions will be notified of what is coming precisely a month before hand. Thank you all for your support of the champions."

It was over, I thought. After all the preparation we put into this, it was over, just like that.

Madam Pomfrey was herding the champions and hostages back to the castle to get into dry clothes. We didn't have to worry about anything until the twenty-fourth of June.

Walking back to the castle, I grinned at Harry, who smiled back. He reached over and took my hand.

Nothing to worry about.

* * *

><p><em><strong>Once again, you guys, I AM TERRIBLY SORRY! I hope no one hates me now, I'm really sorry. Everything's just been really busy, and it was my sisters 21st birthday yesterday and...sorry :( I'll do my best to update faster next time, I promise. <strong>_

_**So, can we get 300 reviews by the chapter with the Pensieve? Pretty pretty please with cherries on top?**_

_**So, to get cookies and butterbeer, you need to review so...**_

_**REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW! :D**_

_**love you guys :) **_

_**-Rach ;)**_


	24. Daddy's Back

**AUTHORS NOTE! :_P_**

**_HAPPY HALLOWEEN! :D _**

**_Yo everyone! Once again, I'm sorry about how long the last chapter took. This one won't be as long, but hopefully I'll have it finished faster. _**

**_Thanks for all the messages and reviews that told me to update. I felt like I was under pressure, and when I'm under pressure, I work faster and better, so thanks :) and thanks for not thinking that I stopped writing. I won't stop writing these stories until there finished. So keep that in mind. I'll never quit , but this year will be hectic because of the Junior Cert, and I'm studying and everything, so this year, updates won't be as frequent. _**

**_Now to answer soon reviews..._**

**_Readersgotswagg: I've only read the fist Percy Jackson book. I need to read the others soon! Is there really a character called Rachel? What book does she come in? If I ever get around to reading all the Percy Jackson books, I might make a crossover :) also, I love your name :D_**

**_KorraAvanasidoch: I'm sorry, but they won't kiss this early. But there might be a kiss or two later on in this story...Your idea is really cute though :)_**

**_FlyForever: Aw thanks. Your review made me smile :)_**

**_jdr ride: There shall be fluff, don't worry. In this, and the rest of the series. I know, the Joker is just amazing. For Halloween, I'm going as Batgirl, and my friend is going as the Joker, and it's kinda funny because the Joker shoots Batgirl :)_**

**_Arkell26: Yup. She was at work, and she was bringing an order to a table, and there was a bit of salad on the floor, and she didn't see it and...she slipped. She's very clumsy. We both are. Just today, I fell over in PE. Over nothing. There was nothing on the ground, I just...fell. _**

**_Eli the Amazing: Thanks, Eli :)_**

**_EveryBreathIsASecondChance: Yay, I love new reviewers! I love your name by the way, sounds very romantic :)_**

**_Thanks to everyone else that reviewed, and all the alerts and favourites :) love you guys :D_**

**_Enjoy the chapter! _**

**_-Rach ;)_**

* * *

><p><em><strong>Max's POV <strong>_

As February went into March, the weather slowly started getting drier, but cruel winds hit us in the face every time we went outside. There were delays in the post because owls kept getting knocked off course. Freedom came back on Friday morning with half of his feathers sticking up the wrong way. I fixed them, knowing how annoying and uncomfortable it was, and pulled Sirius's reply from his leg.

I handed the letter to Harry and gave Freedom some toast, then some water. He nipped at my hair, then flew off quickly, probably towards the Owlery to rest, and I turned to Harry to read Sirius's reply. It was as short and precise as the last one.

_Be at stile at end of road out of Hogsmeade (past Dervish and Banges) at two o'clock on Saturday afternoon. Bring as much food as you can. _

"There's no way he's back in Hogsmeade," Iggy said.

"Well, it looks like he has," Ron said.

"I can't believe him," I said sternly. "If he get's caught..."

"Made is so far though, hasn't he?" Ron said. "And it's not like the place is surrounded by Dementors any more."

If I was honest with myself, I really wanted to see my dad again. I looked at Harry, who seemed to look happier at the thought of being able to see Sirius jjagain. So with that in mind, I entered the last class of the day- double potions- feeling slightly more cheerful then I usually did when entering the dungeons.

Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle were standing in a huddle outside the classroom door with Pansy Parkinson and the rest of the Slytherin girls. All of them were snickering at something we couldn't see. Pansy's pug-like face peered from around Goyle's huge back excitedly when she saw me and Hermione walking down the corridor.

"There they are! There they are!" she giggled shrilly, and the knot of Slytherin's broke apart. I saw that Pansy had a magazine in her hands- Witch Weekly. The moving picture on the front showed a smiling woman pointing at a large chocolate cake with her wand.

"You two might find something interesting in this!" Pansy said loudly, the Slytherin's laughing. She threw the magazine at me, and I caught it easily, glaring at her. Right after that, the dungeon door opened and Snape beckoned us all in.

The six of us headed to a table at the back of the class, as usual. Once Snape turned his back on us to write up the ingredients of the potion, I started flicking through the magazine under the desk. Finally, in one of the center pages, I found it. The others leaned in closer. A photograph of Harry headed a short piece called:

_**Harry Potter's Heartache**_  
><em>A boy like no other, perhaps- yet a boy suffering all the usual problems of adolescence, <em>writes Rita Skeeter. _Deprived of love since his parents tragic death, it seems that fourteen-year old Harry Potter has found love at Hogwarts- but which girl will he choose?  
>It seems that Mr Potter has fallen in love with two girls, Muggle-Born Hermione Granger, and winged-girl Maximum Ride. Little does he know that he will be suffering yet another emotional blow in life that's already been littered with personal loss.<br>Miss Granger, a patent yet ambitious girl, seems to like famous wizards. Ever since Bulgarian Seeker and hero of the Quidditch World Cup, came to Hogwarts, it seems that she has been playing with both boys affections. In fact, Mr Krum has already invited Miss Granger to visit him in Bulgaria over the summer.  
>"She's really ugly," says Pansy Parkinson, a pretty and alert fourth-year, "but she'd be well able to make a Love Potion. She's really brainy, so doing a Love Potion wouldn't be a problem. I reckon that's how she's doing it." As everyone knows, Love Potion's are forbidden in Hogwarts, and I'm sure Albus Dumbledore will want to investigate the claims.<br>__Although, Mr Potter does have another girl- but will she break his heart too? __Maximum Ride, rarely seen out of the company of Mr Potter, seems to have won the heart of a few other boys, including her first-kiss Ethan St James, and one of the other winged-children, Fang Martinez. Draco Malfoy, another fourth year student says, "It's quite amazing that all these boy's like her, seeing as she's got the wings and stuff. I wouldn't go near her. She's just a freak." So has Miss Ride been wiping up Love Potions along with her friend Miss Granger? It seems that Headmaster Albus Dumbledore has a lot to uncover.  
>In the meantime, Harry Potter's well-wishers can only hope that next time, he'll give his heart to worthier candidate. <em>

"I told you!" Ron hissed as me and Hermione stared down at the article. "I told the two of you not to annoy Rita Skeeter! She's made the two of you out to be some types of- of-"

"Of what?" I growled. Ron fell silent and didn't finish the sentence.

I turned back to Hermione. When we looked at each other, we burst into giggles. And I never giggle. Never.

"What are you laughing at? How can any of this be funny?" Iggy asked.

"If this is the best old Rita can do, I'm afraid she's losing her touch," Hermione said, still giggling. She threw the magazine into the empty seat beside me and said, "What a load of rubbish."

We looked over at the Slytherins, who were watching us closely to see if any of us were upset by the article. I gave them a big, sarcastic smile and a wave, then the six of us started unpacking the ingredients we needed for the Wit-Sharpening potion. "There's something funny though," Hermione said ten minutes ago, holding her pestle over a bowl of beetles. "How could Rita Skeeter have known...?"

"Known what?" Ron asked quickly. "You aren't using Love Potions, are you?"

"Of course not!" Hermione said. "Don't be stupid. No, it's just...how did she know that Viktor asked me to visit him over the summer?" she said, blushing deep red.

"What?" Ron said, dropping his pestle.

"He asked me right after he pulled me out of the lake," Hermione muttered. "After he got rid of the sharks head. Madam Pomfrey gave us blankets, and he sort of pulled us away from everyone else so no would hear, and he said if I wasn't doing anything-"

"And what did you say?" Ron asked, who had picked up his pestle, but was grinding it into the table, a good seven inches from where his bowl was, looking at Hermione.

"And then he said that he never felt the same way about anyone else," Hermione went on. I stared at her, eyes wide. Her face was so red I could almost feel the heat coming from her, "but how could Skeeter know that? She wasn't there...or was she? Maybe she has an Invisibility Cloak or something...maybe she sneaked into the grounds to watch the second task..."

"What did you say?" Ron repeated, pounding his pestle down on the table so hard that it dented it. Harry reached over and took it from him, leaving it beside his bowl. Ron didn't even seem to notice.

"Well, I was busy waiting to see if Max and Harry were okay-"

"Fascinating though your social life may be, Miss Granger," came an icy voice from behind us. I didn't even have to turn around to see who it was. "I must ask you not to discuss it in my class. Ten points from Gryffindor."

Snape had glided over silently to our desks as we were talking. The whole class was looking at us.

"And reading magazines under the table as well?" Snape said, picking up the magazine from the chair beside me. "A further ten points from Gryffindor...oh, but of course..." Snape's eyes glittered as he found the article we were reading. "Miss Ride and Mr Potter have to keep up with their press cuttings"

The Slytherins roared with laughter, and an unpleasant smile curled Snape's mouth. What made me want to hit Snape even more, he started reading the article aloud.

"`Harry Potter's Heartache...dear, what could be ailing you now?`A boy like no other, perhaps..."'

I could feel my face burning, and I looked at Harry, who's face was red too. His jaw was clenched and his hands were curled into fists. The only thing keeping me from jumping up and hitting Snape square in the face was Hermione's hand on my elbow. He was pausing at the end of every sentence to give the Slytherins a chance for a good laugh. It sounded so much worse with Snape reading it.

"`Harry Potter's well-wishers can only hope that next time, he'll give his heart to worthier candidate.' How touching," Snape sneered, rolling up the magazine. "Well, I think I should separate the six of you, so you can concentrate more on your potions then on your tangled love lives...Mr Weasley, stay there, Mr Griffiths, up beside Mr Thomas, Mr Martinez, go beside Longbottom, Miss Granger, over beside Miss Parkinson, and you two," he added, staring at me and Harry, who were glaring at him, "Up in front of me. Move. Now."

"All right, all right, keep your greasy hair on," I said, throwing my things into my cauldron. Snape glared at me, his lip curling in fury before he walked back to the front of the class, me and Harry following behind him. Me and Harry went to sit beside each other, but Snape said, "Don't even think about it. Ride, over there." He pointed over to the other seat in the front row and after sharing a look with Harry, I moved over.

Snape watched us unload our cauldrons. I was determined not to look back at him, or to give him the satisfaction of catching me looking at Harry, so I just continued mashing up my scarab beetles (maybe with more force then necessary) and imagining each one as Snape's face. I could hear Harry's knife banging onto his table too.

"All this press attention seems to have inflated your already over-large heads," Snape said, talking to me and Harry. Neither of us answered. He was just trying to provoke us, probably hoping for a chance to take fifty marks off Gryffindor.

"The two fo you might be under the impression that the entire wizarding world is impressed by you," Snape went on quietly. I continued cutting up my scarab beetles, even though they were already reduced to a fine powder. "But I don't care how many your pictures appear in the paper. To me, the two of you are nothing more then nasty little children who think rules are beneath them."

I tipped the beetles into my cauldron and started cutting up my ginger roots. My hands were shaking with anger, but I kept my eyes down, pretending that I couldn't hear what Snape was saying.

"So I give you fair warning," Snape said in a dangerous voice, that reminded me so much of Donovan, the whitecoat that used to torture me in the School everyday, that I shuddered, "little celebrities or not- if I catch either of you breaking into my office again-"

"I haven't been anywhere near your office!" me and Harry said at the same time.

"Don't lie to me," Snape snapped quietly. "Boomslang skin. Gillyweed. Both came from my own private stores, and I know who took them."

I stared right back at Snape, not blinking and looking innocent. The truth was that neither me or Harry stole any of that. Hermione stole the Boomslang skin in second year when we needed it to make the Polyjuice Potion- and while Snape had automatically suspected Harry, he had never been able to prove who stole it. And Harry informed us that it was Dobby that stole the Gillyweed for him.

"I have no idea what you're talking about," Harry said coldly, not breaking eye-contact with Snape.

"I don't know about Miss Ride, but you were out of bed the night my office was broken into, Potter!" Snape hissed. "I know it! Mad-Eye Moody might have joined your little fan club, but I will not tolerate this behaviour! One more nighttime stroll into my office, and the two of you will pay!"

"Right," Harry said very coolly, "I'll keep that in mind if I ever get the urge to go anywhere near your office."

I laughed, and Snape's eyes flashed. He put his hand inside his robes, and for a minute I thought he was going to take out his wand and curse me and Harry. But then he pulled out a small crystal bottle of completely clear liquid.

"Do you know what this is?" Snape asked, looking between me and Harry, his eyes glittering dangerously.

"No," Harry said. Snape turned to me.

"It's Veritaserum," I said.

"Correct, Miss Ride. Veritaserum is a truth-telling potion. So powerful that three drops of this will have you spilling your most personal secrets for the entire class to hear," Snape said viciously. "Now the use of this potion is controlled by Ministry guidelines. But unless you watch your step, my hand might just slip-" he shook the bottle slightly- "over your evening pumpkin juice. Then...we'll find out if you've been in my office or not."

"You can't do that!" I said, but not loud enough for the whole class to hear.

"Of course I can, Miss Ride. And if you ever question me again, I'll make sure that you have detention every day until you leave this school."

I gave him my best glare, the kind that made most men's knees go weak, but Snape didn't even blink. I turned back to my ginger roots again, picked up my knife and started slicing them again. I wouldn't put it past Snape to actually slip some Veritaserum into me and Harry's drinks...the things that would slipping from my mouth if he did... apart from getting Hermione and Dobby into heaps of trouble, everything else would come out too...that I was in contact with Sirius, all the embarrassing things that happened at the school, my confused feelings for Harry-

Forget I said that last part.

There was a knock on the dungeon door, and I looked up as Snape said, "Enter."

Karkaroff came in. Everyone watched him as he approached Snape's desk. He looked agitated and kept twirling his goatee.

"We have to talk, Severus," Karkaroff said when he reached Snape. He seemed so determined that no one should overhear their conversation that he was barely moving his lips, but I could hear every word perfectly. I looked over at Harry quickly, and I seemed that he was listening hard to what was being said.

"I'll talk to you after my lesson, Karkaroff," Snape said.

"I want to talk now, so you can't sneak off again. You've been avoiding me."

"After the lesson," Snape snapped.

I lifted my head slightly, my hair covering most of my face, and sneaked a look at the two of them. Snape looked extremely angry, and Karkaroff looked worried. He stayed in the class for the whole double period, intent on not letting Snape slip away at the end of the class. Why anyone would go through so much trouble to talk to the man was beyond me.

I shared a look with Harry, and we both nodded. We wanted to wait and hear what they had to say. So we put away our things slowly, and when everyone started leaving the dungeon, I deliberately walked into Harry, who dropped his bottle of armadillo bile. This gave the two of us the excuse to duck down behind Harry's cauldron and clean it up.

"What's so urgent?" Snape hissed.

"This," Karkaroff said. Me and Harry peeked out from behind the table and saw Karkaroff pulling up his left sleeve and showing Snape something on his forearm.

"Well?" Karkaroff said, still barely moving his lips. "Do you see? It hasn't been this clear since-"

"Shut up and put that away!" Snape snapped.

"You surely noticed-"

"We can talk later, Karkaroff!" Snape said. "Potter! Ride! What are you doing?"

"I banged into Harry, sir, and he dropped his armadillo bile. We were just cleaning it up," I said in my most innocent voice, and we both showed Snape the sodden rags we were holding.

Karkaroff turned quickly on his heel and practically sprinted from the dungeons. Not wanting to be with an angry Snape, I grabbed my bag and Harry's hand, and we both tore off to find the others and tell them what happened.

We left the castle the next day, and headed into Hogsmeade. The food that Sirius asked for was in my bag; we had sneaked a dozen chicken legs, a loaf of bread, and a flask of pumpkin juice from the lunch table.

We went into Gladrags Wizardwear to buy a present for Dobby. We spent about twenty minutes in there, picking out the most ridiculous socks we could find, including a pair with flashing gold and silver stars, and another one that screamed if they got too smelly.

At half-past one, we made our way up the High Street, past Dervish and Banges, and out towards the edge of the village. I've never been in this direction before. The lane was leading out into the countryside. There were fewer cottages, but the gardens were bigger. We were walking towards the foot of a mountain. We turned a corner and saw a stile at the end of the lane. Waiting for us, with his front paws on the topmost bar, was a huge, shaggy black dog that was carrying newspapers in his mouth.

"Hey Sirius," I said, a smile on my face.

The dog barked happily, sniffed my bag, and turned and began to trot away from us across the rocky foot of the mountain. The six of us climbed over the stile and followed him.

Sirius led us over to the foot of the mountain, where the ground was covered with boulders and rocks. It was simple for Sirius, he had four paws, but after a while, Harry, Ron and Hermione were out of breath. A while after that, me, Fang and Iggy were panting. I suggested that the three of us could fly, but Sirius turned around and growled at me, so I kept my wings tight to my back.

Finally, Sirius slipped out of sight. We climbed a bit more and found the cave that he vanished into. It was cool and dimly lit, and at the end of the cave, one end of his rope around a rock, was Buckbeak the hippogriff. Half grey horse, half giant eagle, Buckbeak's fierce orange eyes flashed over all six of us. We bowed, and after watching us for a minute, Buckbeak bent his scaly knees and allowed Hermione to rush over to him and stroke his long feathery neck.

I was looking at the black dog, that had turned into my father.

He took the Daily Prophet from his mouth and beamed at me and Harry and gave us quick hugs, before grinning at the others. He was still wearing the same ragged grey robes that he had on when he escaped Azkaban. His black hair was longer than it had been when we talked to him in the fire, and it was untidy and matted again. He was really thin.

I pulled the bag off my shoulder and handed it to him. He opened it and said, "Chicken!" as if it was best thing in the world. "Thanks," he said, sitting down on the cave floor. I sat down in front of him, with Harry beside me and the others gathered around us. Hermione stayed closer to Buckbeak. Me, Fang and Iggy took off our jumpers and let our wings out. Mine were all stiff and sore from being pushed against my back all day.

"I've been living off rats mostly," Sirius went on, tearing off a large chunk of the drumstick with his teeth. "Can't steal too much food from Hogsmeade; I'd draw too much attention."

He grinned at us, but we only returned the grin reluctantly.

"What're you doing here, Sirius?" I asked. "Don't get me wrong, I'm really happy to see you, but I just don't want you back in Azkaban."

"I'm fulfilling my duties as father and godfather," Sirius said, gnawing on the chicken bone in a very doglike way. "Don't worry about it. I'm pretending to be a loveable stray."

He was still grinning, but seeing the anxiety on me and Harry's face, he said more seriously, "I want to be closer to everything that's happening. The last letter I got from you two was...let's just say things are getting more and more fishy. I've been stealing the paper every time someone puts one in the bin, and by the looks of things, I'm not the only one that's worried."

He nodded to the pile of Daily Prophet's on the cave floor. Fang picked them up, unfolding them, but me and Harry were still looking at Sirius.

"What if you're seen? What if you're caught?" Harry said.

"You six, Nudge, and I'm supposing the two younger ones, and Dumbledore are the only one's that know I'm an Animagus," Sirius said, shrugging, and continuing to devour the chicken leg.

Fang nudged me and handed me two Daily Prophets. The first one had the headline _Mystery Illness of Bartemius Crouch _and the second one had, _Ministry Witch Still Missing- Minister of Magic Now Personally Involved. _

I scanned through the story of Crouch. Certain phrases jumped out: _hasn't been seen in public since November...house appears deserted... 's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries decline comment...Ministry refuses to confirm rumours of critical illness... _

"They make it sound like's he's dying," I said, handing the paper to Harry. "But he can't be that sick if he managed to get here."

"My brother is Crouch's personal assistant," Ron said to Sirius. "He say's that Crouch is suffering from overwork."

"He did look ill the last time I saw him up close," Harry said, reading the story. "The night my name came out of the goblet."

"Getting what he deserves for sacking Winky, isn't he?" Hermione said, with an edge to her voice. She was still stroking Buckbeak, who was munching on Sirius's chicken bones. "I bet he wishes he hadn't done it now- bet he can feel a difference, now that she isn't there doing all his work."

"Hermione's obsessed with house-elves," Ron said, casting Hermione a dark look. But Sirius actually looked interested. "Crouch sacked his house-elf?"

"Yeah, at the World-Cup," Iggy said, and we all told Sirius about the Dark Mark in the sky, and Winky being found with Harry's wand and Crouch's anger. When we finished, Sirius was on his feet, pacing up and down the cave.

"Let me get this straight," he said, brandishing a fresh chicken leg, "You first saw the elf in the Top Box. She was saving a seat for Crouch, right?"

"Yup," I said.

"But Crouch never showed up to the match?"

"No," Harry said. "I think he said he'd been too busy or something."

Sirius paced all around the cave, then said, "Harry, did you check your pockets for you wand before you left the Top Box?"

"Erm..." Harry said. "No. I didn't need it until we got into the forest. And when I put my hand into my pockets, it wasn't there."

"Are you saying that whoever conjured the Dark Mark was in the Top Box with us?" I asked, staring at Sirius.

"It's possible," he said.

"Winky didn't steal the wand!" Hermione insisted.

"She wasn't the only person in the Top Box," Sirius said, his brow furrowed as he paced. "Who else was sitting behind you?"

"Loads of people," Iggy said. "Some Bulgarian ministers...Cornelius Fudge...the Malfoys..."

"The Malfoys!" Ron said loudly, his voice echoing around the cave. "I bet it was Lucius Malfoy!"

"Anyone else?" Sirius said.

"No one," Fang said.

"Yes, there was Ludo Bagman," Hermione said.

"Oh yeah..."

"I don't know anything about Bagman except that he used to play Beater for the Wimbourne Wasps," Sirius said, still pacing up and down. "What's he like?"

"He's okay," Harry said. "He keeps offering to help me in the Tournament."

"I wonder why he'd do that?" Sirius said, his frown deepening.

"He's say's that he's taking a liking to me," Harry said.

"Hmm," Sirius said.

"We saw him in the forest right before the Dark Mark appeared," I said.

"Yeah, but he didn't stay in the forest, did he?" Ron said. "When we told him there was a riot going on, he went back to the campsite."

"How do you know?" I said. "You don't know where he Disapparated to."

"Come of it," Ron said, "Are you saying that Ludo Bagman conjured the Dark Mark?"

"Well, it's more likely than Winky doing it," Hermione said. I nodded in agreement. Heck, I like Bagman, but he acts weird and suspicious sometimes, and there's no way Winky did the Dark Mark.

"I told you she's obsessed with house-elves-" Ron started, but Sirius held up a hand to silence Ron.

"When the Dark Mark was conjured, and Winky was found with Harry's wand, what did Crouch do?"

"Went looking in the bushes," I said. "But there wasn't anyone there. Whoever must have done it left straight away."

"Of course," Sirius muttered, still pacing. "He'd want to pin it on anyone else but his own elf...and then he just sacked her?"

"Yes," Hermione said in a heated voice, "he sacked her. Just because she didn't stay in the tent and let herself get trampled-"

"Hermione, will you please give it a rest with the elf!" Ron said.

Sirius shook his head and said, "She has a better measure of Crouch than you do, Ron. If you want to know what a man's like, take a look at how he treats his inferiors, not his equals."

He ran a hand over his unshaven face, thinking hard.

"All these absences of his... he goes to trouble of making sure his house-elf saves him a seat at the Quidditch World Cup, but doesn't bother to show up. He works hard to reinstate the Triwizard Tournament, but stops going to it...It's not like Crouch. If he's ever taken a day off work before this due to sickness, I'll eat Buckbeak."

"D'you Crouch then?" Fang asked.

Sirius's face darkened. He looked as menacing at the night we first met him. That night, we still believed he was a murderer.

"Oh, I know old Bartemius all right," Sirius said quietly. "He was the one to give the order to send me to Azkaban. Without a trial."

"What?" we all said together.

"You're kidding!" Harry said.

"That's a load of crap! They can't just send someone to jail without a proper trial!" I said angrily.

"If they believe they have enough evidence to put the person in jail, they can. And that's what Crouch did," Sirius said, taking another bite of chicken. "Crouch used to be the Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, didn't you know? He could of done anything he wanted."

We all stared at Sirius. I couldn't believe this. If they gave him a trial, then maybe he could of been proven innocent. I probably would of still been in the School, but at least Sirius wouldn't have been in Azkaban, and Harry could of lived with him.

"He was tipped to be the next Minister of Magic," Sirius went on, pulling me out of my thoughts. "He's a great wizard, Barty Crouch...very powerfully magical- and power-hungry. No, never a Voldemort supporter," he said, reading the expressions on our faces. "No, Crouch was very outspoken against the Dark Side. But then a lot of people who were against the Dark Side...well, you wouldn't understand, you're too young..."

"That's what everyone keeps saying," I said. "That we're too young. Just try us."

A grin flashed across Sirius's face.

"All right then, I'll try you..." he walked up and down the cave once, then said, "Imagine that Voldemort's powerful now. You don't know who his supporters are, you don't know who's working for him, and who isn't; you know that he can control people to do terrible things and be unable to stop themselves. You're scared for yourself, for your family, and for your friends. Every week, there's news about more and more deaths, more disappearances, more torturing...the Ministry of Magic is in pieces trying to sort it out, they don't know what to do, and they're trying to keep all of this hidden from the Muggles, but there are Muggles being killed and tortured as well. Terror and panic everywhere...confusion...desperation... that's what it used to be like.

"Times like that bring out the best in some people, and the worst in others. Crouch's principals might have been good in the beginning- I wouldn't know. He rose quickly through the Ministry, and started ordering harsh measures on Voldemort's supporters. The Aurors were given new powers- powers to kill rather than capture, for example. I wasn't the only one handed straight over to the dementors without a trial. Crouch fought violence with violence, and authorised the Unforgivable Curses against the suspects. I would say that he became as ruthless and as cruel as any on the Dark Side. He had his own supporters too, mind you- plenty of people thought that what he was doing was the right way to do things, and there were a lot of witches and wizards that wanted him to take over as Minister of Magic. When Voldemort disappeared, it looked like only a matter of time before Crouch got the job. But then something rather unfortunate happened..." Sirius smiled grimly. "Crouch's own son was caught with a gang of Death Eaters who'd managed to talk their way out of Azkaban. Apparently, they were trying to find Voldemort and get him back to power."

"Crouch's son?" Hermione gasped.

"Yep," Sirius said, throwing a bone to Buckbeak, and flinging himself on the floor beside the loaf of bread, and he tore it in half. "Nasty shock for Barty, I'd imagine. Should have spent more time at home with his family, shouldn't he? Ought to have left the office early once in a while, get to know his own son." Sirius looked up at me with big, sad grey eyes. I stared back at him, hoping that he didn't think that I didn't think of him as my father.

"Was his son a Death Eater?" Iggy asked.

"No idea," Sirius said, wolfing down the bread. "I was in Azkaban myself when he got brought in. This is all mostly stuff I've found out since I'd escaped. The boy was caught in the company of people that I know were Death Eaters- but he might have been simply in the wrong place at the wrong time, just like Winky."

"Did Crouch even try to get his son off?" I asked.

Sirius let out a laugh that was more like a bark.

"Crouch get his son off? I thought you had a good measure on him like Hermione did, Max. Anything that threatened his reputation had to go. He had dedicated his entire life to becoming Minister of Magic. You saw him sack a house-elf because she associated him with the Dark Mark again- doesn't that tell you what he was like? Crouch's fatherly affection was enough to get his son a trial, and it wasn't much more than an excuse for Crouch to show how much he hated the poor boy...then he sent him straight to Azkaban."

"He gave his own son to the dementors?" Iggy asked quietly.

"Yeah," Sirius said, not looking remotely amused now. "I saw the dementors bringing him in, watched them through the bars in my cell door. He couldn't have been more than nineteen. They put him into a cell near mine. He was screaming for him mother by nightfall. After a few days, he went quiet. They all go quiet in the end...except for when they shriek in their sleep..."

Hearing this reminded me of the School. All the experiments that only lasted a few days... they'd be whimpering and groaning for a few hours, then they'd be quiet, and then...they'd die.

I looked back at Sirius, and saw the deadened look in his eyes were more pronounced than ever.

"So he's still in Azkaban?" Harry asked.

"No," Sirius said dully. "No, he died about a year after they brought him in."

"He's dead?"

"He's not the only one," Sirius said bitterly. "Most go mad in there, and plenty of them stop eating in the end. They just lose the will to live. You could always tell when a death was about to happen, because the dementors could sense it, and they got excited. The boy seemed pretty sick when he arrived. Crouch being an important Ministry member, he and his wife were allowed a deathbed visit. That was the last time I saw Barty Crouch, half carrying his wife past my cell. She died, apparently, shortly after that. Grief. Wasted away just like her son. Crouch never came to get his son's body. The dementors buried him outside the fortress."

Sirius threw down the bread and picked up the flask of pumpkin juice and drained it.

"So old Crouch lost it all, just when he thought he got everything," he continued, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand. "One minute, a big hero, next in line for Minister of Magic...the next, his son dead, his wife dead, the family name dishonoured, and so I've heard since I got out, a big drop in popularity. Once the boy died, people started feeling sympathetic towards him, asking how a nice young lad from a good family had gone so astray. The conclusion everyone came to was that his father never cared for him that much. So Cornelius Fudge got the head job, and Crouch was shunted aside to Head of Department of International Magical Cooperation."

There was a long silence. No wonder Crouch had freaked out when he saw Winky with a wand, under the Dark Mark. It had brought back memories of his son, and his fall from power and grace at the Ministry. But it still didn't make what he did to Winky okay.

_**You don't know everything, Maximum. You can't judge so quickly without knowing everything that happened.**_

Oh great, the Voice was back. Yippee.

_And I'm guessing that you know everything? _

**_No one knows everything, Max._ **

_But you know everything that happened with Crouch and his family? Can you tell me? _

I waited a few minutes, but nothing. Of course. Why am I even surprised?

"Moody said that Crouch was obsessed with catching Dark Wizards," Harry said.

"Yeah, I've heard it's become a bit of a mania to him," Sirius said, nodding. "If you ask me, I think he believes that he can bring back all his popularity by catching one more Death Eater."

"And he sneaked up here to search Snape's office!" Ron said triumphantly.

"Yes, that doesn't make sense at all," Sirius said.

"Yes it does!" Ron said, but Sirius shook his head.

"Listen, if Crouch wants to investigate Snape, why hasn't he been coming to judge the tournament? It would be the perfect opportunity to make regular visits to Hogwarts and keep an eye on him."

"So you think Snape could be up to something then?" I asked, but Hermione interrupted.

"Look, I don't care what you say, Dumbledore trusts Snape, so-"

"Oh, give it a rest Hermione," Ron said impatiently. "We all know that Dumbledore is brilliant and everything, but that doesn't mean a Dark wizard couldn't fool him-"

"Then why did he try to save Harry in first year? Why not let him die?"

"I dunno- maybe he thought Dumbledore would kick him out."

"What d'you think, Sirius?" Harry said loudly over Ron and Hermione's bickering.

"I think they've both got a point," Sirius said. "Ever since I found out that Snape was teaching at the school, I've been wondering why Dumbledore would hire him. Snape's always been into the Dark Arts, always been fascinated by them. He was famous for it at school. Slimy, oil-haired kid he was," Sirius added, and we all grinned at each other. Well, except for Hermione. "Snape knew more curses coming into the school than half the kids leaving the school in seventh year, and he was part of a group in Slytherin that nearly all turned out to be Death Eaters."

Sirius held up his fingers and began ticking off names.

"Rosier and Wilkes- both killed by Aurors the year before Voldemort fell. The Lestranges- a married couple, they're both still in Azkaban. Avery- from what I've heard, he managed to worm his way out of trouble by saying he'd been under the Imperious Curse- he's still out there somewhere. But as far as I know, Snape's never been accused of being a Death Eater. Not that it means that much. Plenty of them were never caught or named. And Snape is clever and cunning enough to keep himself out of trouble."

"Snape and Karkaroff seem to be buddies, but Snape wants to keep it quiet," Iggy said.

"Yeah, you should have seen Snape's face when Karkaroff turned up in Potions yesterday," Harry said quickly. "Karkaroff wanted to talk to Snape, he said that Snape's been avoiding him. Karkaroff looked really worried about something. He showed Snape something on his arm, but I couldn't see what it was." He turned to me. "Could you see it?"

I shook my head. "Nope. He had his arm turned slightly so only Snape could see it."

"He showed Snape something on his arm?" Sirius said, looking bewildered. "Well I have no idea what that was about...but if Karkaroff is worried, and he's going to Snape for answers..."

Sirius stared at the cave wall, looking frustrated.

"There's still the fact that Dumbledore trusts Snape, and I know Dumbledore trusts people others wouldn't, but I just can't see him letting Snape teach at Hogwarts if he'd ever worked for Voldemort."

"Why are Moody and Crouch so keen to get into his office then?" Ron asked stubbornly.

"Well, I wouldn't have put it past Mad-Eye to have searched every teachers office in the castle. He takes his Defence Against the Dark Arts seriously, Moody. I'm not sure he trusts anyone at all, and after all the things he's seen, it's not surprising. I'll say this for Moody though, he never killed anyone if he could help it. Always brought people in alive where it was possible. He was tough, but he never descended to the level of the Death Eaters. Crouch though... he's a different story...is he really ill? If he is, why did he make the effort in dragging himself up to Snape's office? And if he isn't, then what's he up to? What was he doing at the World Cup that was so important he didn't turn to to watch it? What's he been doing while he's meant to be judging the tournament?"

Sirius fell back into silence, still staring at the cave wall. Buckbeak was looking around the cave floor, trying to spot any bones he might have missed. I stood up and walked over to him, and started stroking his neck and his back.

No one spoke for a few more seconds. Finally, Sirius turned to Ron.

"You say your brother works for Crouch? Any chance you can ask him if he's seen Crouch lately?"

"I can try," Ron said. "Better not make it sound like I think he's up to something, though. Percy loves Crouch."

"And you might want to ask if they have any leads on Bertha Jorkins while you're at it," Sirius said, pointing to the second copy of the Daily Prophet.

"Bagman told me they hadn't," Harry said.

"Yeah, he's quoted in the article," Sirius said, nodding to the paper. "Blustering on about how bad Bertha's memory is. Well, maybe she's changed since I knew her, but the Bertha I knew wasn't forgetful at all- she was the opposite actually. She was a bit dim, but she had an excellent memory for gossip. It used to get her into trouble a lot; she never knew when to keep her mouth shut. I can see her being a bit of a liability to the Ministry. Maybe that's why Bagman took so long to start looking for her..."

Sirius gave a huge sigh and rubbed his shadowed eyes.

"What's the time?" he asked.

"It's half past three," Hermione said.

"You lot better get back to the school," Sirius said, standing up. "Now listen," he said, looking mostly at me and Harry. "I don't want you sneaking out of the school to come see me, all right? Just send notes to me here. I still want to hear about anything strange happening. But you are not to leave the school grounds without permission. It would be the perfect chance to attack you."

"No one tried to attack me so far apart from a dragon and a few grindylows," Harry said.

"I got attacked by a few Erasers, but that's old news," I said. Sirius scowled at us.

"I don't care. I'll breathe freely again when this tournament is over, and I know that all of you are out of danger. That's not until June. And don't forget, if you're talking about me in public, refer to me as Snuffles, okay?"

The others went to pat Buckbeak goodbye, and I walked closer to Sirius. He hugged me and kissed my forehead. "You be careful, and don't get into too much trouble."

"I'll try," I said, smiling sadly. I didn't want to say goodbye to him. "Promise that I'll see you soon?" I said.

"I promise."

Sirius said goodbye to the others, then said, "I'll walk to the edge of the village with you. See if I can scrounge another paper somewhere."

He transformed into the giant black dog before we left the cave, and I pulled my wings tight to my back and pulled my jumper back on. We stared walking down the mountainside again, and across the boulder-strewn ground, and back to the stile. We all patted him, then turned back towards Hogsmeade, and up towards Hogwarts.

"Wonder if Percy knows all that about Crouch?" Ron said as we walked up the drive to the castle. "Maybe he doesn't care. Probably just makes him admire Crouch more. Percy loves rules. He'd just say that Crouch was refusing to break the rules for his own son."

"Percy would never throw someone from his family to the dementors," Hermione said.

"I don't know," I said. "You've never met Aunt Muriel." Me, Ron, Fang and Iggy shuddered.

"If he thought we were getting in the way of his career...Percy's really ambitious..." Ron continued.

We walked up the stone steps, into the entrance hall, where the delicious smell of dinner wafted in from the Great Hall.

"Poor old Snuffles," Iggy said, breathing deeply. "He must really like you two," he said, looking at me and Harry, "Imagine having to live off rats..."

* * *

><p><em><strong>Ah Iggy, little did you know that's what you were doing in an alternate universe... <strong>_

_**Anyway, how is everyone? This chapter took a little longer than expected, sorry about that. **_

_**HAPPY HALLOWEEN! **_

_**I know it's not Halloween, but this will the only chapter up before Halloween, so this is the Halloween chapter! **_

_**Also, I'd like to dedicate this chapter to Arkell26. You know why :) **_

_**So, when you review, you get cookies and butterbeer! And I'll update faster! And I still want 300 by the Pensieve! So...**_

_**REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW! **_

_**Thanks!**_

_**-Rach ;)**_


	25. The Craziness of Bartemius Crouch

_**AUTHORS NOTE! :P**_

_**WE REACHED 300! WHOO!**_

_**Hey, everyone! How are you? **_

_**So I had an eye test today, and it turns out that I'm short-sighted in one eye... how messed up is that? I don't need glasses though, but in a few months I might need them o.O **_

_**Here's the next chapter, so I hope you like it!**_

_**But first, I'll answer some reviews. **_

_**ChopSuzi: haha yeah that would help!**_

_**Gremlin-Rayne: cookies for me? Ah that's so sweet! I'm afraid that you'll just have to wait and see. The last few chapters shall reveal all. **_

_**Arkell26: haha well you deserve a chapter! **_

_**Guest: Let's just say she reacts badly...kinda like how she reacted with Fang kissing the Red Haired Wonder, but maybe worse. I haven't exactly got all the details figured out, but lets just say it won't be pretty. I didn't like Nevermore :( I was so disappointed with it...why would he finish such an amazing series like that? Haha I don't think you're a nutter, your review made me laugh. Thanks haha :)**_

_**WingedHero540: that would be interesting to write about... **_

_**KorraAvanasidoch: I'll made you a deal. It won't be their first kiss, I'm sorry, but I've already got their first kiss planned out. But that will happen and they'll kiss like that. Could that work?**_

_**Thanks to everyone else that reviewed, favourite and alerts! And to everyone else that just started reading the story! You guys are awesome! :D **_

_**Now, on with the story!**_

_**Enjoy!**_

_**-Rach ;)**_

* * *

><p><strong><em>Max's POV <em> **

After breakfast on Sunday morning, the six of us and Nudge went up to the Owlery to send the letter to Percy that Sirius suggested, asking him if he'd seen or heard from Crouch lately. We decided to use Hedwig, because it was so long since she'd be out on a job. After we watched her fly away, we headed down to the kitchen to give Dobby his new socks.

The house-elves gave us a very happy welcome, bowing and bustling around to make more tea. Dobby was ecstatic about his present.

"Harry Potter is too good to Dobby!" he squeaked, tears in his enormous green eyes.

"You really saved my life with that gillyweed Dobby," Harry grinned.

"No chance of more eclairs, is there?" Iggy asked, looking around at all the beaming house-elves.

"You've just had breakfast!" Hermione said, but a great platter of eclairs was already zooming towards us, supported by four house-elves.

"We should get some stuff and send it to Snuffles," I muttered.

"Good idea," Harry said.

"Yeah, it'll give Pig something to do," Ron said. "You couldn't give us a bit more food, could you?" he said to the house-elves, and they bowed delightedly and scurried off.

"Dobby, where's Winky?" Hermione asked.

"Winky is over there by the fire, miss," Dobby said quietly, his ears dropping.

"Oh dear," Hermione said when she saw Winky.

I looked over at the fireplace. Winky was sitting on the same stool as last time, but she had let herself become so filthy that she I couldn't recognise her at first amongst all the smoke-blackened bricks behind her. Her clothes were ragged and unwashed. She was clutching a bottle of butterbeer and swaying slightly on her stool, staring sadly into the fire. As we watched, she gave a huge hiccup. It had to have been one of the saddest things I've ever seen, and that's coming from me.

"Winky is getting through six bottles a day now," Dobby said sadly.

"Well, that stuff isn't strong," I said.

But Dobby just shook his head. "`Tis strong for house-elves, miss."

Winky hiccuped again. The house-elves that were bringing us the food looked disapprovingly at her as they returned to their work.

"Winky wants to go home," Dobby whispered, "Winky still thinks Mr Crouch is her master, and nothing Dobby says will persuade her that Professor Dumbledore is her master now."

"Hey Winky," I said kindly as an idea struck me, walking over to her and bending down. "You don't know what Mr Crouch might be up to, do you? Because he's stopped coming to judge the Triwizard Tournament."

Winky looked up at me with huge, sad brown eyes. I couldn't help but feel bad for her. She swayed slightly, then said, "M- Master is stopped- hic- coming?"

"Yeah," Fang said, catching onto the idea. "We haven't seen him since the first task. The Prophet says he's been ill."

Winky swayed once more, staring at Fang.

"Master-hic- ill?"

Her bottom lip began to tremble. I tried to think of something to do to comfort her, but I couldn't think of anything.

"But we're not sure if that's true," Nudge said quickly.

"Master is needing his- hic- Winky!" she whimpered. "Master cannot- hic- manage- hic- all by himself!"

"Other people manage to do their own housework, Winky," Iggy said.

"Winky- hic- is not only doing- hic- housework for Mr Crouch!" Winky squeaked, swaying worse then ever and slopping butterbeer all down her front. I put my hand on her shoulder to steady her, but she didn't seem to notice. "Master is- hic- trusting Winky with his- hic- most important secret!"

"What?" Harry said.

But Winky shook her head hard, spilling more butterbeer on herself, and some on my arm and shirt.

"Winky keeps her Masters- hic- secrets," she said, frowning up at us with her eyes crossed. "You is-hic- nosing, you is."

"Winky must not talk to Harry Potter and his friends that way!" Dobby said angrily. "They are all brave and noble, and not nosy!"

"They is nosing- hic- into my master's- hic- private and secret- hic- Winky is a good house-elf- hic- Winky keeps her silence- hic- people trying to- hic- pry and poke- hic-"

Winky's eyes dropped, and suddenly, without warning, she slid off her stool onto the fireplace, snoring loudly. The empty bottle of butterbeer rolled from her grip and rolled across the floor. A few house-elves came hurrying forward, looking disgusted. Some of them came over with a large tablecloth and placed it over Winky, hiding her from sight.

"She's unhappy," Hermione said, "why don't you try and make her happy instead of just covering her up?"

"Begging you pardon, miss," said the house-elf, bowing again, "but house-elves have no right to be happy when there is work to be done, or masters to serve."

"Oh for Pete's sake," Hermione cried, waving her arms. "Listen to me, all of you! You've got just as much right as wizards to be happy! You've got the rights to get wages, and holidays, and real, proper clothes. You don't have to obey every command you get! You have the right to be free! Just look at Dobby!"

"Please leave Dobby out of this, Miss," Dobby said, ducking behind me, looking scared. The cheery smiles had vanished from the house-elves faces around the kitchen. They were looking at Hermione as if she was telling them they should all walk around with turnips on their heads.

"We has your extra food!" said a house-elf at my elbow as he shoved a large ham, a dozen cakes and some fruit into my arms. "Goodbye!"

The house-elves crowded around the seven of us, ushering us out of the kitchen, with many small hands pushing into the smalls of our backs.

"Thank you for the socks, Harry Potter!" Dobby called miserably from the fireplace, still standing beside the tablecloth that was Winky.

"You couldn't keep your mouth closed, could you, Hermione?" Ron said angrily as we climbed the stairs back to Gryffindor tower. "They won't want us visiting any more now! We could have asked Winky more questions about Crouch!"

"As if you care about that!" Hermione retorted. "You only go down there for the food!"

It was an irritating day after that. No matter how much I tried to get them to stop, Ron and Hermione just couldn't stop bickering while we were trying to do our homework in the common room. It didn't help that Fang and Iggy would join in sometimes, only making Ron and Hermione more mad. Harry seemed to be the only other person getting annoyed at it all.

He leaned closer to me and whispered, "Do you want to go to the Owlery and sent Sirius the food?" He pointed to his bag, which still held all the food the house-elves gave us. I nodded and stood up after Harry, calling back to the others, "Be back in a few," as we went out through the portrait hole.

"I thought I'd go deaf listening to them," I moaned as we walked to the Owlery.

"Most of what they were arguing about didn't even make sense," Harry said, grinning.

"Well, everything Hermione said made sense. It's Hermione. Everything she says has to make sense, or the universe would explode."

We reached the Owlery and called Pigwidgeon down, but when we saw that he would be way to small to carry all the food on his own, we got Freedom and Grenade down as well, and tied the large package between them. Me and Harry stood at the window, watching them fly away. We didn't speak, but it wasn't awkward. It was actually the complete opposite.

"I never thanked you," I said suddenly.

Harry looked at me, surprised. "For what?"

"For saving me in the lake. Thank you."

"Nothing would of happened to you anyway. There's no need to thank me," Harry said.

I turned around and faced him. "That doesn't matter. You didn't know what would happen to us, so you stayed to make sure we'd all be safe. Thank you."

Harry looked like he was going to protest again, but I put my hand over his mouth, ignoring the way my heart beat faster when I touched him. "I don't thank people that often, so when I do, you should just accept it." It was only when I finished talking that I realised how close I was standing to Harry. I slowly took my hand away from his mouth, and looked up at him. He was staring at me with an emotion in his eyes that I didn't recognise.

_Oh my God, are we going to kiss? _I kept thinking.

We were getting closer and closer, and we were going to kiss-

"_Agghh!" _I screamed as an owl flew right passed my face.

I looked up at Harry, my face red with embarrassment. Shocked, I saw that he was trying not to laugh. "Oh, shut up!" I snapped, trying not to laugh myself. "That was scary!"

"It was just an owl," Harry laughed.

"That owl was terrifying!" I said, laughing.

"Maximum Ride, scared of an owl? What has the world come to?" Harry joked.

"Hey, there are plenty of stuff I'm scared of that no one knows about."

"Like what?"

I tapped my nose. "Now, now, don't be nosy."

We leaned against the windowsill again. I wondered whether to bring up what just happened, and what would have happened if that owl hadn't interrupted, but I decided against it. I didn't want to make things awkward.

"Hey look, it's Hagrid," Harry said, pointing down towards the grounds. I looked down and saw Hagrid outside his cabin, digging.

"Wonder what he's digging?" I asked.

"Look's like a new vegetable patch or something," Harry muttered, looking around the grounds. As we watched, we saw Madame Maxime emerge from the Beauxbatons carriage and walked over to Hagrid. She seemed to be trying to engage him in conversation. Hagrid leaned against his spade but it seemed like he wasn't talking because she returned to her carriage after a few minutes.

Neither me nor Harry wanted to go back to the common room and listen to Ron, Hermione, Fang and Iggy fighting, so we decided to stay in the Owlery and we watched Hagrid digging until the darkness swallowed him up.

It was past midnight when Harry and I went back to the common room. By the next morning, luckily everyone was in better moods. Every time I looked at Harry, I'd remember last night when we were so close to kissing. I knew I had a little crush on him in first-year, but I was eleven. So why did my heart skip a beat every time I remember being so close to him?

When the post owls started coming in from the window, Hermione looked up hopefully.

"Percy won't have an answer yet," Iggy said. "We only sent the letter yesterday."

"No, it's not that," Hermione said. "I've taken out a subscription for the Daily Prophet. I'm sick of finding everything out from the Slytherins."

"Good thinking!" Harry said, looking up as well. "Hermione, I think you're in luck-"

A grey owl was soaring towards Hermione.

"It doesn't have a newspaper though," Hermione said, frowning, "It's-"

But to all of our surprise, the grey owl landed in front of Hermione, followed by four barn owls, and a tawny. Then three barn owls landed in front of me.

I looked at Hermione. "What do you think these are?" I asked. Hermione shrugged, looked bewildered. She reached out and took the letter from the grey owl, and opened it.

"Oh, really!" she spluttered, her face going red.

"What is it?" Fang asked, moving my goblet out of the way before an owl knocked it over.

"It's- oh, how ridiculous-"

She thrust the letter to me and I saw that it was not handwritten but composed from letters that seemed to be cut from the Daily Prophet.

**yOu ArE A WiCKeD gIrL. HArRy PoTtER DESeRvES BeTtEr TheN YOu. GO bAcK TO wHeRe YOU bELoNG, MUgGLE! **

"They're all like that!" Hermione said. She looked at me. "What do yours say?"

I opened the closest one to me and read one that was pasted from the Daily Prophet as well.

**YoU aRE noTHINg BUt A FreAK! WhY WoUlD SOmEoNE LIkE HaRRy pOTtER WAnT yOU? **

I paled and showed the letter to the others. I opened the other few, and they basically all said the same thing. It was the same for Hermione. I was just about to open the last letter when Hermione cried "Ow!"

I wheeled around and saw that Hermione was cradling her hands. The last envelope had contained a yellowish-green liquid that smelled like petrol, and her hands were erupting in large yellow boils.

"Undiluted bubotuber pus!" Ron said, picking up the envelope and sniffing it.

"Ouch!" Hermione said, tears in her eyes and she tried to rib the pus off with a napkin, but her fingers were now so thickly covered in painful sores that it looked like she was wearing a pair of thick knobbly gloves.

"You should go to the hospital wing," Fang said. "We'll tell Professor Sprout where you've gone."

"I'll go with you," I said, standing up. Hermione stood up beside me, cradling her hands to her chest and trying to hold back the tears.

We hurried up to the hospital wing, and when we walked in, Madam Pomfrey was just about to walk into her office. She turned around when we walked in, and asked, "Miss Ride? What happened to you this time?"

I grinned. "It's not me this time, Madam Pomfrey. Hermione got undiluted bubotuber pus on her hands," I explained

"Oh dear," Madam Pomfrey said, as she guided Hermione over to a bed. "I thought you were required to wear gloves in Herbology when dealing with bubotuber pus?"

Hermione and I shared a look. "This didn't happen in Herbology," I said.

Madam Pomfrey raised her eyebrows. "Then how did it happen?"

I looked at Hermione. She nodded.

"Did you read that article in Witch Weekly about me, Hermione and Harry?" I asked.

"The one Skeeter wrote? Yes, I read it. Complete rubbish! But what does that have to do with this?" she asked, putting gloves on and gently touching Hermione's hands.

"Some people sent us letters this morning. One of them was full of bubotuber pus."

Madam Pomfrey looked disgusted. "It's one thing to actually believe anything that Skeeter writes, but to actually send something like that to children!"

"My hands will be okay, right?" Hermione asked.

"Of course, dear. I'll have them right within the hour, and there won't be any mark left. You'll have to wear bandages around your hands for a few hours though."

Hermione nodded, but she looked miserable. "It'll be okay, Hermione. Don't worry about this," I said.

She smiled sadly, then Madam Pomfrey started healing her hands.

Nearly forty minutes later, we were allowed to leave. Hermione's hands were heavily bandaged and she was more miserable now then ever. I suggested that we didn't have to go back to class, but Hermione insisted, even though we had Care of Magical Creatures with the Slytherins now.

We walked out onto the grounds, me carrying Hermione's bag for her. We saw the class walking around the grounds, following fluffy black creatures that were diving in and out of the ground. I spotted all the guys talking to Hagrid, and they looked up as we got closer. I also noticed that Pansy Parkinson was staring at us as well, a smug smile on her pug-like face.

Hagrid gave us a warm smile, then turned back to the class and said, "Well, let's check how yeh've done! Count yer coins! An' there's no point tryin' to steal any, Goyle," he said, his eyes narrowed. "It's leprechaun gold. Vanishes after a few hours."

Goyle emptied his pockets, looking sulky. Turns out that Ron's niffler (Fang told me and Hermione what they were called) had been the most successful, so Hagrid handed him a huge slab of Honeyduke's chocolate as a prize. The bell rang across the grounds signalling lunch, and the rest of the class went off towards the castle. The six of us stayed behind and helped Hagrid put the nifflers back into their boxes.

"What yeh done ter your hands, Hermione?" Hagrid asked, concerned.

We told him about the hate mail we got this morning, and Hermione's containing bubotuber pus.

"Aah, don' worry," Hagrid said gently, looking at us. "I got some o' those letters as well, after Rita Skeeter wrote abou' my mum. `Yeh're a monster and yeh should be put down.' `Yer mother killed innocent people an' if you had any decency, you'd jump in a lake.'"

"Someone couldn't have said that!" Hermione said, shocked.

"Yeah," Hagrid said, putting away the last niffler. "They're jus' nutters, Hermione, Max. Don't open 'em if yeh get any more. Chuck 'em straight in the fire."

"You missed a really good lesson," Harry said as we walked back to the castle. "They're good nifflers, aren't they?"

The other mumbled an agreement, but Ron was just frowning at his chocolate bar.

"What's wrong?" I said. "Wrong flavour?"

"No," Ron said shortly. Then he turned to Harry. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"Tell you what?"

"About the gold."

"What gold?"

"The leprechaun gold I gave you at the Quidditch World Cup, for the Omnioculars. Why didn't you tell me that it disappeared?"

"Oh...,"Harry said a few minutes later. "I dunno...I guess I just never noticed. I was more worried about my wand than anything else, wasn't I?"

We walked into the Great Hall and sat at the Gryffindor table for lunch.

"Must be nice," Ron said suddenly. "To have so much money you don't even notice a pocketful of Galleons goes missing."

"Listen, there were other stuff on my mind that night," Harry said impatiently. "We all did, remember?"

"I didn't even know that leprechaun gold vanishes," Ron said, not paying attention to Harry. "I thought I was paying you back. You shouldn't have gotten my that Chudley Cannon hat for Christmas."

"Forget it, all right?" Harry said. Ron just stabbed a potato with his fork, and didn't say anything. But after a few minutes, he said, "I hate being poor."

The rest of us stared at each other, not knowing what to say. The Weasely's were poor, but Mr Weasley's job didn't pay as well as others, and they did have five of their seven children still living with them, not to mention the six members of the flock. Even though the Ministry gave Mr and Mrs Weasley money every month, that was just for the flock. After that money was gone on food, or clothes, or books, there was barely any left for Mrs Weasley.

The flock didn't really mind about them being poor. When we lived with Jeb, we always had to get our clothes from charity shops, and it was very rare that we would get the amount of food that we needed. Living with the Weasley's was better, in a way, because Mrs Weasley would always go out of her way to make sure we got all the calories we needed. Jeb tried his best, he really did. Without thinking, I reached up and closed my hand around the locket around my neck. I just hope that Ron would realise that money wasn't as important as having a loving family.

"It stinks," Ron went on, still glaring at the potato on his plate, as if everything that was wrong in the world was the potato's fault. "I can't blame Fred nad George for wanting to get a bit more money. Wish I could. Wish I had a niffler."

"Well, now we know what to get you for your birthday," I said brightly, hoping to cheer him up. Ron just scowled.

"Come on, Ron, as least your fingers aren't full of pus!" Hermione said, lifting up her bandaged hands. She was having difficulty using her knife and fork, her fingers were so stiff and swollen. "I hate that Skeeter woman!" she burst out so suddenly that Iggy dropped his fork. "I'll get her back for this if it's the last thing I do!"

I nodded in agreement. She was going to regret ever writing that stuff about the flock, Hagrid, Harry, and Hermione, and everything else she did that ruined someone's life.

Hate mail continued to come for me and Hermione that week. All of mine were basically the same, that I was a freak, that no one would love me, that I should just end my life blah blah blah. We stopped opening them after a while, but then some idiots started us Howlers, that would explode in the middle of breakfast and everyone in the Great Hall could hear them shouting insults at us.

I was starting to get sick of telling people that I was Harry's, or Fang's, girlfriend.

"It'll die down," Fang kept assuring me whenever someone called us freaks.

"If we just ignore them, they'll get bored. People got bored with the stuff she wrote about me," Harry kept saying. I knew they were just saying it to stop me from punching someone, even though I could tell they wanted to hit a few people as well.

"I just want to know how she's listening to people's conversations when she's meant to be banned from the grounds!" I said angrily.

During our last Defence Against the Dark Arts class of that week, I got an idea. I whispered it to Hermione, who nodded. After class, we walked up to Professor Moody while the boys waited for us outside the door.

"Sir, could we ask you something?" I asked.

Moody grunted and said, "Ask away, Miss Ride."

"Well, we know that you can see through Invisibility Cloaks, so we were wondering...did you see Rita Skeeter anyway near the lake at the second task, sir?" Hermione asked.

Moody shook his head. "If I had seen her, everyone would have known about it. Haven't seen her since before Christmas. Why do you want to know?" he asked.

"We want to know how she's listening to peoples conversations," I said. Moody grinned slightly and said, "If you figure it out, and get her out of business, I'd give you both twenty Galleons each."

We gaped at him. "Deal," I said, nodding.

"Deal," he said. "Now, go lunch."

We left the classroom, and started walking to lunch.

"Well, ol' Rita's not using an Invisibility Cloak," I said. "Moody said he didn't see the slime-ball anyway near the lake."

"Is there any point is asking you to drop this?" Ron asked.

"No!" we said at the same time. "I want to know how she knows about the flock and the wings," I said.

"I want to know how she heard me and Viktor talking, and about Hagrid's mum," Hermione said.

"Maybe she bugged you," Fang suggested. Jeb taught us all about bugging, and hidden cameras.

"I'd know if I was bugged, Fang," I said stubbornly.

"She wouldn't," Fang said, pointing at Hermione. It was possible...

"Bugged?" Ron said, confused. "Like...putting fleas on her or something?"

Iggy started explaining to Ron about hidden microphones and recording equipment. Ron was fascinated, but Hermione interrupted his questions.

"Are any of you going to read Hogwarts, A History?" she asked.

"What's the point?" Harry said. "You know it by heart. We'll just ask you."

"All of the things that Muggles use instead of magic- electricity, computers and radar, all of those things- they all go haywire around Hogwarts, there's just too much magic in the air. No, Rita's using magic to eavesdrop, she has to be...If only I could find out what she's doing...if it's illegal, I'll have her..."

"Haven't we got enough to worry about?" Ron asked. "We don't need to start some revenge war on Rita Skeeter as well!"

"I'm asking for your help!" Hermione snapped. "I'll do it with Max. Or on my own." She looked at me and raised her eyebrows.

"You know I'm in," I said.

"Fine. I'll see you later," she said and stormed off up the staircase. I was pretty sure she was going to the library.

"I bet she'll come back with a box of `I Hate Rita Skeeter' badges," Iggy said.

But Hermione was true to her word, and didn't ask any of us for help. Of course, I helped her anyway, but I wasn't doing as much as she was. I was glad that she didn't ask for help, because our workload was just getting bigger and bigger before the Easter holidays. I still managed to do my work, and help Hermione look for all the different ways of magical eavesdropping. The six of us were also sending regular packages of food to Sirius. We enclosed notes for Sirius, telling him that nothing strange had happened, and we were still waiting for a reply from Percy.

Hedwig didn't return until the end of the Easter holidays. Percy's answer was enclosed with Easter eggs that Mrs Weasley's sent. The boy's, and Nudge's were the size of dragon eggs, mine was slightly smaller then that, but then Hermione's was the size of a chicken egg. Her face fell when she saw it.

"Your mum doesn't read Witch Weekly by any chance, Ron?" she asked.

"Yeah," he said. "Get's it for the recipes."

Hermione looked at her tiny egg sadly. I broke mine in half and handed it to her. She tried to give it back to me, but I refused. After a while, she smiled slightly at me.

"Let's see what Percy wrote!" Iggy said, his Easter egg already eaten.

Percy's letter was short and irritated.

_As I am constantly telling the Daily Prophet, Mr. Crouch is taking a well-deserved break. He is sending in regular owls with instructions. No, I haven't actually seen him, but I think I can be trusted to know my own superior's handwriting. I have quite enough to do at the moment without trying to quash these ridiculous rumors. Please don't bother me again unless it's something important. Happy Easter. _

I shook my head. "Butthead," I said.

The start of the summer term normally meant training hard for the final Quidditch match of the session. This year however, it was the third task of the Triwizard Tournament, and we were starting to help Harry prepare for the task, although it was difficult as we didn't know what the task was. At this stage, we were just helping him learn more, additional spells.

Finally, in the last week of May, Professor McGonagall held Harry back in Transfiguration.

We waited outside the door for a few minutes before Harry came back outside. "Mr Bagman is going to tell the champions about the last task tonight at nine in the Quidditch pitch," he said, looking slightly nervous.

That night at half eight, Harry started walking out of the common room. He was trying to hide it, but I could see how uneasy he felt about learning what the last task would be. I got up and walked out with him. He gave me a questioning look, and I just said, "I want to go flying. I was going to go tonight anyway, so I decided to go now."

Harry grinned at me. I never actually wanted to go flying tonight, but I couldn't stand the thought of Harry walking all the way down to the Quidditch pitch on his own.

"So what do you think it's going to be?" I asked casually. Harry shrugged."I have no idea. I just hope it isn't too bad."

"Whatever it is, you can do it," I said. "You know, you could really win this. You really could. The others might be older than you, but you've got more experience in this stuff. You could win."

Harry didn't say anything. He just grinned.

We walked across the grounds towards the pitch in comfortable silence. We reached the gap in the stands, and I turned to Harry. "Don't wait for me. I'll be back soon."

I run off into the Forbidden Forest, and I take off my robe and throw it beside a tree. I ignore the cold, and spread out my brown wings. I took a running start, and jump into the air.

I would never get used to the feeling of flying. Soaring and flipping through the air, your heart pounding in your ears, the way the wind whipped your hair back...

I decided to fly over the Quidditch pitch, staying up high so no one would see me, but because of my super vision, I was able to see the four champions, and Bagman.

Then I saw the maze.

It was massive. Even bigger than the Quidditch pitch had been. The hedges didn't seem to be that big, but by the time the third task came around, I'm guessing they would be over twenty feet. It was so dark that I was barely able to make out the turns and twists of the maze.

I stayed where I was for a few more minutes before I saw them all walking out of the pitch. I flew back to where I left my robe and threw it on, then I looked around the tree carefully to see where Harry was.

I saw him walking off towards Hagrid's hut...with Krum.

I frowned. What were they doing, walking together? I crept quietly through the trees, keeping to the shadows so I wouldn't be seen. When I got close enough, I walked slower and listened to what they were saying.

"-vont to be overheard," I heard Krum say.

A few minutes later, they stepped closer to the trees. I moved back and crouched down behind a tree. I don't know why I was hiding from Harry, but I just don't think Krum would like to know that I was here.

A few second of awkward silence later, and Krum said, "I vant to know vot there is between you and Hermy-own-ninny."

I covered my mouth with my hand to kept the laugh down. Viktor Krum, Seeker for Bulgaria, the gloomy champion, was asking Harry about his relationship with Hermione. This was hilarious!

I looked at them, still careful to keep my face hidden in the shadows and saw Harry staring up at Krum in amazement.

"Nothing," Harry said, but I could see Krum glowering at Harry. "We're friends. She's not my girlfriend and she never had been. It's just that stupid Skeeter woman making thing's up."

"Hermy-own-ninny talks about you often," Krum said, looking at Harry suspiciously.

"Yeah," Harry said, "because we're friends."

I couldn't believe that Harry was having this conversation with Krum.

"You haff never...you haff not..."

"No," Harry said firmly.

Krum looked a little happier- well, as happy Krum could look. He stared at Harry for a few minutes then said, "You fly very veil. I vos watching at the first task."

"Thanks," Harry said, grinning. I rolled my eyes. "I saw you at the Quidditch World Cup. The Wronski Feint, you really-"

That was when I heard something in the trees behind me. I stood up slowly, and looked around. I squinted, and saw a tall figure stumbling towards me. I took my wand from my pocket and took a fighting stance.

"Vot is it?" I heard Krum say. They must have heard the person as well.

The figure stumbled closer to me, and I recognised him. It was Bartemius Crouch.

"Crouch?" I said, so surprised that I didn't remember that I was meant to be hiding.

"Max? Is that you?" Harry called out.

I was about to reply when I saw Crouch raising his wand to me. I stumbled back, raising my wand. I broke out from the trees to see Harry and Krum staring at me. "What are you doing here?" Harry asked.

"Never mind that. Crouch is in there!" I said. Just after I said it, Crouch staggered out from behind an oak tree. He looked like he had walking around for days. The knees of his robes were ripped and bloody, his face scratched and grey with exhaustion. His hair and moustache were in desperate need of a wash and cut. But that was nothing compared to how he was behaving. He was muttering and gesturing, as if he was actually talking to someone. I looked down at his hand, then I noticed that what I thought was his wand was actually a normal stick. I put my wand back into my pocket.

"Vosn't he a judge?" Krum asked. "Isn't he vith your Ministry?"

Harry nodded, hesitated for a minute, then approached Crouch, who didn't look at us, but continued talking to the tree beside him.

"...and when you've done that, Weatherby, send an owl to Dumbledore confirming the number of Durmstrang students who will be attending the Tournament. Karkaroff just sent word they'll be twelve..."

"Mr Crouch?" Harry asked cautiously.

"...and then send another owl to Madame Maxime, because she might want to up the number of students she's bringing, now that Karkaroff's bringing more...Will you do that Weatherby? Will you...will you..."

Crouch's eyes were bulging. He stood staring at the tree, mouthing soundlessly at it. Then he staggered backwards and fell to his knees.

"Mr Crouch?" I said loudly. "Are you okay?"

Crouch's eyes were rolling in his head. Krum and I moved closer to Harry and Crouch.

"Vot is wrong with him?" Krum asked.

"No idea," Harry mumbled. "Listen, you'd better got get someone..."

"Dumbledore!" gasped Crouch. He reached out and grabbed a handful of my robes, dragging me closer. "I...need...to see...Dumbledore..."

"Okay," I said, "if you get up, then we can go see him-"

"I've done...stupid thing..." Crouch breathed, staring intently at me. He looked completely mental. His eyes were rolling and bulging, and a trickle of spit was sliding down his chin. Every word he spoke seemed to take him a terrible effort. "Must...tell...Dumbledore..."

"Get up, Crouch," I said, "get up and we'll take you to Dumbledore."

His eyes rolled and landed on the three of us, all huddled around him.

"Who...you?" he whispered.

"We're students at the school," Harry said.

"You're not...his?" he whispered, his mouth sagging.

"Nope," I said, no idea what he was talking about.

"Dumbledore's?"

"That's right," Harry said.

Crouch was pulling me closer. I tried to loosen his grip, but it was too strong. Harry put his hand on the small of my back, keeping me from falling over.

"Warn... Dumbledore..."

"We'll warn Dumbledore if you let go of me," I said in the same voice I used to use for Gazzy and Angel when they had nightmares. "Let me go, Mr Crouch and I'll get him for you."

"Thank you, Weatherby, and when you have done that, I would like a cup of tea. My wife and son will be arriving shortly, we are attending a concert tonight with Mr. and Mrs. Fudge."

Crouch was taking to the tree again, any difficulty from earlier completely gone. He seemed to forget that we were there, which surprised me so much that I didn't even realise that he had released me until Harry pulled me back a few steps.

"Yes, my son has recently gained twelve O. , most satisfactory I think, yes I'm quite proud, very proud indeed. Now if you could bring me that memo from the Italian Minister of Magic, I think I will have time to draft a response..."

"Stay here with him," I said, turning to Krum. "We'll get Dumbledore. We'll be faster, we actually know where his office is-"

"He's mad," Krum said, staring uncertainly at Crouch, who was still talking to the tree, apparently convinced that it was Percy.

"Just stay with him," Harry said. We started to walk away, but our movement seemed to trigger some abrupt change in Crouch, who managed to grab my arm and knock me to the ground. Harry crouched down beside me, starting to look freaked out.

"Don't...leave...me..." he whimpered, his eyes rolling so much I was surprised they hadn't popped out of his head yet. "I...escaped...must tell...see Dumbledore...my fault...all my fault...Bertha...dead...my son...my fault...must tell Dumbledore...Harry Potter...Maximum Ride...The Dark Lord...stronger..."

"We'll get Dumbledore if you let me go," I said again. I turned around frantically, my hair in my face and said to Krum, "Some help would be nice!"

Looking nervous, Krum squatted down beside Krum.

"Just keep him here," Harry instructed as I pulled myself free of Crouch's grip. There were half moon shapes covering my arm, and some of them were actually bleeding. I tried my best to ignore the dull ache in my arm. "We'll come back with Dumbledore."

"Hurry, von't you?" Krum called after us as we raced away. The grounds were deserted, and the castle was in darkness. We tore up the stone steps, through the oak front doors and up the marble staircase, without speaking to each other and without taking a break.

Five minutes later we were hurtling towards the stone gargoyle, and when we finally reached it, Harry panted, "Sher- sherbert lemon!"

The gargoyle didn't move. "That was the password from second year!" I said when I got my breath back. My arm was bleeding more now, so I'm guessing Crouch hadn't cut his nails in a while. I tried to ignore the pain. "He probably changed it!"

"You only say that now?" Harry snapped.

"I only thought of it now! Maybe we can check the staff room, see if he's there," I said.

"Come on then," he said, then we started running as fast as we could toward the staircase-

"POTTER! RIDE!"

We skidded to a halt and wheeled around. Snape had just emerged from the hidden staircase behind the gargoyle. I groaned. Why Snape? Why is it always Snape?

"What are you two doing here?" he asked.

"We need to see Dumbledore!" Harry said and we ran back up the corridor and stopped in front of Snape. "It's Mr Crouch...he's just turned up...he's in the forest...he's asking-"

"What is this rubbish?" Snape asked, his black eyes glittering. "What are you talking about?"

"Mr Crouch!" I shouted. "From the Ministry! There's something wrong with him- he's in the forest, and he keeps asking for Dumbledore! Just give us the password up to-"

"The headmaster is busy, Ride," Snape said, his mouth curling into an unpleasant smile.

"We need to tell Dumbledore!" I yelled.

"Didn't you hear me, Ride?"

I could see that Snape was enjoying himself, denying the thing we wanted when we were so panicky.

"Look," Harry said angrily, "Crouch isn't right- he's- he's out of his mind- he says he wants to warn-"

"I'm finding it a bit hard to believe what you're telling me, Potter," Snape said.

"Then explain this!" I snapped, rolling my sleeve up to show Snape the bleeding cuts in my arm. He frowned for a split second, but then it was gone. Before he could speak, the stone wall behind Snape slid open. Dumbledroe was standing there, wearing long green robes and a curious expression. "Is there a problem?" he asked.

"Professor!" Harry said, looking away from my arm. I quickly rolled down my sleeve, but Dumbledore had already seen it.

"Mr Crouch is here- he's down in the forest, he wants to talk to you!" Harry went on.

I expected Dumbledore to ask some questions, but thankfully Dumbledore didn't do anything of the sort.

"Lead the way," he said, and he swept off along the corridor, leaving Snape standing in the corridor.

"What did Mr Crouch say?" Dumbledore asked as we walked down the staircase.

"Said he had to warn you...said he's done something terrible...he mentioned his son, and Bertha Jorkins...and- and Voldemort...something about him getting stronger."

"Indeed," Dumbledore said, and he quickened his pace.

"He wasn't acting right." I said. "He doesn't seem to know where he is. He keeps thinks he's talking to Percy Weasley, then he changes and it seems like he know's what happening and he asks for you, sir. We left him with Viktor Krum."

"You did?" Dumbleodre asked, then he began to take longer steps, so we were running to keep up. "Do you know if anyone else saw Mr Crouch?"

"Not that we know of," I said as we walked out passed the Beauxbaton's carriage.

"Where are they?" Dumbledore asked.

"Over there," Harry said, moving in front and leading the way into the trees. I couldn't hear Crouch's voice anymore, but I knew where we were going.

"Viktor?" I shouted.

No one answered.

"They were here," Harry said, turning to Dumbledore. "They were definitely somewhere around here."

"_Lumos__!_" Dumbledore said, holding his wand up.

It's narrow beam travelled from trunk to black trunk, illuminating the ground. Then it lit up a pair of feet.

The three of us hurried forward. Krum was sprawled on the ground, seemingly unconscious. There was no sign of Crouch. Dumbledore bent over Krum and gently lifted his eyelids.

"Stunned," he said softly.

"Should I get someone?" Harry asked. "Madam Pomfrey?"

"No," Dumbledore said. "The two of you stay here."

He raised his wand into the air and pointed it in the direction of Hagrid's cabin. I saw something silvery dart out of it and streak away through the trees like a ghostly bird. Then Dumbledore bent over Krum again and whispered, "_Ennervate!" _

Krum opened his eyes. He looked dazed. When he saw us, he tried to sit up, but Dumbledore placed a hand on his shoulder and pushed him back to the ground and made him stay still.

"He attacked me!" Krum muttered. "The old madman attacked me! I vos looking around to see vare Potter and the girl had gone and he attacked me!"

"The girl has a name," I growled. Krum stared at me, but didn't say anything. He seemed to be worse then Fang.

The sound of thunderous footfalls reached us, and Hagrid came panting into sight, Fang the dog at his heels. He was carrying his crossbow.

"Professor Dumbledore!" he said. "Max- Harry- what the-?"

"Hagrid, I need you to find Professor Karkaroff," Dumbledore said. "His student has been attacked. When you've done that, kindly alert Professor Moody-"

"No need, Dumbledore," came a wheezing growl beside us. "I'm here."

Moody came limping towards us, leaning on his staff, his wand lit.

"Damn leg," he said. "Would've been here earlier...what happened? Snape said something about Crouch..."

"Crouch?" Hagrid asked blankly.

"Karkaroff, please Hagrid," Dumbledore said.

"Oh yeah...right y'are, Professor..." Hagrid said, and turned and disappeared into the dark trees, Fang trotting behind him.

"I don't know where Barty Crouch is," Dumbledore told Moody, "but it's essential we find him."

"I'm onto it," Moody said, and limped off into the forest.

Dumbledore turned to me. "Show me your arm, Max," he said. I hesitated, then held out my arm. Dumbledore rolled my sleeve up, and I tried not to wince when the fabric brushed over the cuts. Dumbledore moved his wand over my arm, muttering. The cut's didn't completely go away, but they stopped bleeding and they weren't stinging as much.

"Thanks sir," I said.

That was when Hagrid and Fang returned, with Karkaroff behind them, looking pale and agitated.

"What is this?" he said when he saw Krum lying on the ground with us standing beside him. "What's going on?"

"I vos attacked!" Krum said, sitting up and rubbing his head. "Mr Crouch or votever his name is-"

"Crouch attacked you? The Triwizard judge?"

"Igor," Dumbledore said, but Karkaroff was clutching his furs around him, looking furious.

"Treachery!" he bellowed, loud enough to wake the entire castle. "It is a plot! You and your Ministry have lured me here under false pretences, Dumbledore! This is not equal competition! First, you sneak Potter into the tournament, though he is underage! Now, one of your Ministry officials attempts to put my champion out of action! I smell corruption in this whole affair- here's what I think of you!"

Karkaroff spat on the ground at Dumbledore's feet. In one swift moment, Hagrid seized the front of Karkaroff's robes, lifted him into the air and slammed him against a nearby tree.

"Apologise!" Hagrid growled.

"Hagrid, no!" Dumbledore shouted, his eyes flashing.

Hagrid removed his hand from around Karkaroff's throat, and Karkaroff slid all the way down the trunk and slumped in a heap at the roots.

"Kindly escort Harry and Max back to the castle, Hagrid," Dumbledore said sharply.

Breathing heavily, Hagrid gave Karkaroff a nasty look.

"Maybe I'd better stay here, Headmaster..."

"You will take Harry and Max back to the castle, Hagrid," Dumbledore repeated firmly. "Take them right to Gryffindor Tower. And I want the two of you to stay there. Anything you might want to do- any owls you might want to send- can wait till the morning. Do you understand?"

"Er- yeah," I said. How did Dumbledore know that at that moment, I was thinking about sending Freedom to Sirius to tell him what happened.

We marched in silence towards the castle, Hagrid muttering insults about Karkaroff under his breath.

"Krum isn't that bad," I said after Hagrid started going on about everyone from Durmstrang.

"Yeah, he wasn't trying to jinx me or anything. He just wanted to talk about Hermione-"

"I'll be talkin' to her, an' all," Hagrid growled. "The less you lot 'ave to do with them foreigners, the happier I'll be. Yeh can't trust any of 'em."

"You were getting on all right with Madame Maxime," I said.

"Don' you talk to me bout her!" Hagrid snapped. "I've got her number now! Tryin' ter get me back in her good books, tryin' to get me ter tell her what's comin' for the third task. Ha! You can't trust any of 'em!"

I was about to point out that I was technically a foreigners, but then Hagrid was in such a bad mood that it was easy to just say good-bye at the portrait hole and go into the common room. We went straight to the corner where Ron, Hermione, Fang, Iggy and Nudge were sitting and told them everything.

* * *

><p><em><strong>PLEASE DON'T HATE ME! :O<strong>_

_**WE REACHED 300! :D**_

_**I'm so sorry this took so long, I've been studying, and homework, and there's friend drama and BLAH! **_

_**I'm really sorry this took so long, but because this is my Junior Cert year, I'll be studying a lot, so I only get to write a few sentences a day :( **_

_**I love you guys :D **_

_**thanks to everyone that reviewed and the alerts! You're all awesome! **_**  
><strong>

_**If you want cookies and butterbeer, you have to review, so...**_

_**REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW! **_

_**-Rach ;) **_

_**(I'll try to be faster next time!)**_


	26. Divination Class

_**AUTHORS NOTE! :P**_

_**Hey guys, so I'm really sorry for the long wait, but as you all know, I'm doing my Junior Cert in June, and the Mocks (tests we do before the Junior Cert that's meant to prepare us for the actual test...waste of time in my opinion...) are just over, so I was studying sooooooooo much for those... So I don't really have that much time for fanfiction, or really anything else. It's all just study study study... So please don't hate me about taking so long :( **_

_**Now I shall answer some reviews...**_

_**Lily-Evans4108: Thanks for understanding :) haha and thanks for that, it really means a lot :)**_

_**Guest: You're very welcome :) yeah, I had to torture you guys a little bit haha :D Yup, I took mine and I got a wolf :D **_

_**Kisa tracer: Thanks :D honestly, I forgot about it. I know, I felt so stupid and was really angry, but I just...forgot. I'm really sorry, but they will have that conversation, most likely at the end of this story, or at the start of year 5. Sorry about that. And thanks again :) **_

_**Bethzilla: I know and it drives my English teacher insane! But I just can't help it, it just comes out like that and I don't notice until someone points it out to me. But I'm working on it :) **_

_**SoaringOnWings: possibly, possibly...**_

_**AnikaandAj: thanks for forgiving me :) this story wouldn't be the same without all your reviews :D**_

_**Arkell26: I'll try and squeeze it in somewhere. Oh, seriously? Whoops...poor Krum with his identity problem haha :)**_

_**On a brighter, happier, note, IT'S MY BIRTHDAY ON WEDNESDAY THE 30th! :D I shall be 15 :) whooop! **_

_**Thanks to everyone else that reviewed, and the alerts! LOVE YOU GUYS! **_

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><p><em><strong>Max's POV <strong>_

"It simply comes down to this," Fang said. "Either Mr Crouch attacked Krum, or else someone else just attacked them both when Krum wasn't looking."

"It's must've been Crouch," Ron said immediately. "That's why he was gone when Harry, Max and Dumbledore got there. He'd done a runner."

"I don't think so," I said. "He seemed really weak, and didn't really know where he was."

"Yeah, I don't reckon he could have Disapparated or anything," Harry said, running a hand through his dark hair.

"You can't Disapparate inside Hogwarts grounds, haven't I told you that enough?" Hermione said.

"Obviously not," I grinned. She scowled at me.

"Okay, how about this?" Ron said, his eyes gleaming excitedly. "Krum attacked Crouch then- no, wait for it- then Stunned himself!"

"And Crouch just evaporated into thin air, did he?" Iggy said, rolling his eyes.

"Oh right..."

It was just after daydreak. The six of us had crept from the common room and up to the Owlery to send a letter to Sirius. Now we were looking out over the misty grounds. We were all pale and puffy eyed because we had been talking about Crouch well into the night.

"Just go through it again," Hermione said. "What exactly was he saying?"

"We told you already, he wasn't really making sense," I said, rubbing my arms where there were still marks from when Crouch grabbed me. "Said he wanted to warn Dumbledore about something. He definitely mentioned Bertha Jorkins, and he seemed to think that she's dead. He kept saying it was his fault...mentioned his son too."

"Well that was his fault," Iggy said.

"He was out of his mind," Harry said. "Half the time he seemed to think his wife and son were still alive, and he kept talking to Percy about work and giving him instructions."

"And what did he say about You-Know-Who?" Ron asked.

"We've told you," I said, stifling a yawn. "He said he was getting stronger."

There was a pause. Then Ron said, "But you said it yourself, he was out of his mind, so maybe that part isn't true..."

I shook my head. "He was at his sanest when he was talking about Voldemort," I said, ignoring the way Ron flinched at the name. "He was having trouble saying two words, but he seemed to know where he was and what was going on, and what he wanted to do. He just kept asking for Dumbledore."

I crossed my arms and frowned. Even after we went to bed last night, I still hadn't been able to sleep. I stayed up, wondering where had Crouch gone, what had happened to him, whether he did Stun Krum...

"If Snape hadn't held us up," Harry suddenly said bitterly, "we might've actually got there in time. `The headmaster is busy...what's this rubbish...' Why couldn't he have just gotten out of the way?"

"Maybe he held the two of you up on purpose!" Ron said quickly. "Maybe he didn't want you to get there in time! Maybe- hang on- how long do you think it would of taken him to get to the forest? Could he have gotten there before you and Dumbledore?"

"Not unless he finally sprouted his bat wings and flew off," I said.

"Wouldn't surprise me," Ron said.

"We need to talk to Professor Moody," Hermione said." We have to ask him whether he found Mr Crouch or not."

"If he had the Marauders Map on him, then Moody would of found him easily," Iggy said.

"Unless Crouch was already outside the grounds. It only shows up to the boundaries, doesn't it-?"

"Shh!" I hissed. "Someone's coming up the stairs."

We could hear two voices arguing, coming closer and closer and becoming louder and louder.

"-that's blackmail, that is. We could get into serious trouble over that-"

"-we've tried being polite, and it hasn't worked. It's time to play dirty, just like him. He wouldn't like the Ministry of Magic knowing what he did-"

"I'm telling you, if we put that in a letter, it's blackmail!"

"Yeah, but you won't be complaining when you get a nice fat payoff, now will you?"

The Owlery door banged open, and in walked Fred and George. They froze when they saw us standing at the windows.

"What are you doing here?" Ron and Fred asked at the same time.

"Sending a letter," me and George said in unison.

"What, at this time?" Fang and Fred said.

George grinned.

"Fine- we won't ask you what you're up to, if you don't ask us."

He was holding a sealed envelope in his hand. I glanced at it, but George, whether accidentally or on purpose, moved his hand so the name was covered.

"Well, don't let us hold you up," Fred said, pointing to the door.

Ron didn't move. "Who're you blackmailing?" he asked.

The grin vanished from Fred's face. George half glanced at Fred, before smiling at Ron.

"Don't be stupid, we were only joking," he said.

"Didn't sound that way," Iggy said.

"I've told you lot before," Fred said abruptly, "keep your noses out if you like the shape of them."

"It's my business if you're blackmailing someone," Ron said. "George is right- you could get into serious trouble for that."

"Told you, we were joking," Fred said. He walked over to George and took the envelope from his hands, and started attaching it to the nearest barn owl. "You're starting to sound like our dear older brother, Ronnie. Keep this up, and you'll be made prefect."

"No I won't!" Ron said hotly.

Fred took the barn owl over to the window and let if fly off. He turned around and grinned at Ron.

"Then stop telling people what to do. See you later."

He and George left the Owlery and the six of us stared at each other.

"You don't think they know anything about this?" Hermione asked. "About Crouch and everything?"

"No," Harry said. "If it was something that serious, they'd tell someone. They'd tell Dumbledore."

Ron, however, was starting to look uncomfortable.

"What's wrong?" I asked him.

"Well..." he said, "I dunno if they would. They've been obsessed with making money lately. I noticed that when I was hanging around with them- when- you know-"

"We weren't talking," Harry finished the sentence for him. "But...blackmail?"

"It's this joke shop idea they have," Ron went on. "I thought they were only saying it to annoy Mum, but they really mean it, they want to start one. They've only got one more year at Hogwarts, they keep going on about how they want to start thinking about their future and Dad can't help them and they need gold to get started."

Hermione was looking uncomfortable now as well.

"Yeah, but they wouldn't do anything against the law to get gold."

"Wouldn't they?" Ron said, looking skeptical. "I dunno...they don't mind breaking the rules, do they?"

"Yes, but this is the actual law, not some silly school rule," Hermione said, starting to look scared. "They'll get a lot more than detention for blackmail! Ron...maybe you should tell Percy..."

"Are you mental?" Ron said. "Tell Percy! He'll probably do a Crouch and turn them in!" He turned around and looked out the window.

"Come on," Fang said. "Let's go get breakfast."

"Do you think it's too early to go talk to Professor Moody?" Hermione asked as we walked down the staircase.

"Oh yeah," Iggy said. "He'd probably blast a hole through the door if we tried waking him up at the crack of dawn; he'll think someone was trying to attack him."

"We'll do it at break," Harry said.

History of Magic seemed to go slower than usual. I kept looking at my watch, but it was going so slow I thought it had broken. The six of us were so tired that we would have gladly fallen asleep right there and then- even Hermione wasn't taking her usual notes.

When the bell finally rang, we hurried out to the corridors and towards the Dark Arts classroom, where we found Moody leaving it. He looked as tired as we felt. The eyelid of his normal eye was drooping, making his face seem even more lopsided.

"Professor Moody?" Harry called as we walked toward him through the crowd.

"Hello, Potter," Mood growled. His magical eye moved to follow a group of first-years, who sped up, looking nervous; it rolled to the back of his head and watched as they walked around the corner before he spoke again.

"Come in here."

He stood back to let us into the now empty classroom, limped in after us and closed the door.

"Did you find him?" I asked as soon as the door closed. "Crouch?"

"No," Moody said. He moved over to the desk, sat down and straightened out his wooden leg and pulled out his hip flask.

"Did you use the map?" Harry asked.

"Of course," Moody said, taking a swing from his flask. "Took a leaf from your book. Summoned it from my office into the forest. He wasn't anywhere on it."

"So he Disapparated?" Ron said.

"You can't Disapparate inside the Hogwarts grounds, Ron!" Hermione said. "There are other ways he could have disappeared, aren't there, Professor?"

Moody's magical eye quivered as it rested on Hermione. "You're another one who might think about a career as an Auror," he said. "Mind works the right way, Granger."

Hermione blushed pink with pleasure.

"Well, he wasn't invisible," Harry said, "the map shows invisible people. He must've left the grounds."

"Did he do it in his own mind, or did someone make him?" I said.

"Yeah, someone could've flown up with a broom and flown off with him, couldn't they?" Ron said, looking hopefully at Moody, as if he hoped Moody would tell him that he had the makings of being an Auror as well.

"We can't rule out kidnap," Moody said.

"So," Iggy said, "D'you reckon he's in Hogsmeade somewhere?"

"He could be anywhere," Moody said, "Only thing we actually know for sure is that he's not here."

He yawned, making his scars stretch widely, and his lopsided mouth revealed a number of missing teeth. Then he said, "Dumbledore's told me that you six fancy yourselves as investigators, but there's nothing you can do for Crouch. The Ministry'll be looking for them now, Dumbledore's notified them. Potter, you just keep your mind on the third task."

"What?" Harry said. "Oh yeah..."

"Should be up your street, this one," Moody said. "From what Dumbledore's told me, you've managed to get through stuff like this plenty of times before. Broke your way through a series of obstacles guarding the Philosophers Stone in your first year, didn't you?"

"We helped," Ron said quickly. "I mean, we all helped."

Moody grinned. "Well, you help him practice for this task. I'll be very surprised if you don't win, Potter," he said. "In the meantime, constant vigilance, Potter. Constant vigilance." He took another drink from his hip flask, and his magical eye swivelled to the window, where the topmost sail of the Durmstrang sail was visible.

"The five of you," Moody said, his normal eye on me, Fang, Iggy, Ron and Hermione, "you stick close to Potter, all right? I'm keeping an eye on things, but still...you can never have too many eyes out..." Then both of his eyes landed on me. "You too. You're the oldest and the leader of your little `flock' and the one that was pictured, and most mentioned. Also, you're the daughter of a murderer. That makes you a target."

"A target for who?" I asked.

He shrugged, his magical eye looking at the door behind us. "Anyone," he answered simply.

I stared at him. I didn't know whether I should be scared about that or not. I never really thought about anyone other then the whitecoats and Erasers trying to hurt us.

Sirius sent our owl back the very next morning. It fluttered down beside Harry at the same second as a tawny one landed beside Hermione, that days Daily Prophet clutched in it's mouth. She took the newspaper, scanned the first few pages and said, "Ha! She hasn't gotten word on Crouch yet!" then joined the rest of us in reading Sirius's letter.

_Harry and Max, _

_What do you two think you're playing at? Harry, you go walking off into the forest with Viktor Krum, and Max, you're flying alone at night. I want you both to swear by return owl that you are not going to be walking with anyone else at night, or flying alone. There is someone highly dangerous at Hogwarts. It's obvious to me that they wanted to stop Crouch from seeing Dumbledore, and you were probably feet away from them in the dark. You both could have been killed.  
>Harry, your name didn't get into that goblet by accident. If someone wants to attack you, they're on their last chance. Stay close to the others, do not leave Gryffindor Tower after hours, and prepare yourself for the third task. Practice Stunning and Disarming. Learn a few hexes. There is absolutely nothing you can do about Crouch now, so keep your head down and stay out of trouble. And that goes for you too, Max.<br>I'll be waiting on your letter swearing that the two of you won't go straying out of bounds again.  
>Sirius. <em>

"Who's he, to lecture me about going out-of-bounds?" Harry said hotly and he folded up Sirius's letter and put it in his pocket. "After all the stuff he did at school!"

"He's worried about you!" Hermione said sharply. "Just like Moody and Hagrid! So listen to him!"

"No one's tried to attack me all year," Harry said. "The only thing that came after Max was a few Erasers, and they have nothing to do with this stuff. No one's done anything to me at all-"

"Except putting your name in the Goblet of Fire," Iggy said. "I don't know how we didn't think of this before, but someone inside the school had to have let the Erasers in the grounds. How else would they in? And Harry, maybe Sir- maybe Snuffles is right. Maybe this is the task they're going to try and get you."

"Look," Harry said impatiently, "let's say Sirius is right, and someone Stunned Krum to kidnap Crouch. Well, they could've been in the trees near me and Max, right? But they waited until we left to get Dumbledore before they acted, didn't they? So it seems as if neither me nor Max was the target."

"It wouldn't have looked like an accident if they murdered you in the forest!" Hermione said. "But in the task-"

"They didn't care about attacking Krum," I said, getting annoyed. "Why didn't they just kill the three of us? Could of made it look as if we all had a fight or something."

"I don't understand any of this either," Hermione said. "I just know that there are a lot of weird things happening and I don't like it. Moody's right...Sirius is right- you've got to train hard for the third task. And make sure you write back to Sirius and promise him you won't go wandering around again."

For the next few days, the six of us, and sometimes Nudge, would spend most of our free time in either the library looking up hexes and spells, or else in empty classrooms practising those hexes and spells. Harry was concentrating on the Stunning Spell, but that meant he needed to actually do the spell on people- and we were the only ones he could do it on.

"Can't we just kidnap Mrs. Norris?" Fang moaned on Monday lunchtime as eh lay flat in his back in the Charms classroom, having just been Stunned and reawoken by Harry for the fifth time in a row. "Let's Stun her for a while. Should be fun."

"You could always use Dobby, Harry," Ron said from the corner where he was rubbing his backside. "He'd do anything for you Harry. Not that I'm complaining or anything, but I'm aching all over."

"Well that's your own fault for missing the cushions each time, isn't it?" I said, rearranging the pile of cushions we took from Flitwick's cabinet. "Just try and fall straight backwards."

"Once you're Stunned you can't aim that well, Max!" Ron said angrily. "Why don't you take a turn!"

"I did it before Fang! It's Iggy's turn now!" I said.

"I think Harry's pretty much got it now anyway," Iggy said hastily. "We should start on something else."

"Iggy's right, we should start something new..." Hermione said, thinking. "We don't have to worry about Disarming, you've been able to do that for ages. We should start on one of the hexes this evening."

She looked down at the list we made in the library.

"This one seems good," she said. ,"the Impediment Curse. Slows down anything that's trying to attack you, Harry. We'll start with that one."

The bell rang, and we hastily shoved the cushions back into the cabinet and slipped out of the classroom.

"See you at dinner!" Hermione called as she set off for Arithmancy, while the rest of us headed towards the North Tower for Divination.

"It's going to be boiling in Trelawney's room," Iggy said as we started up the staircase towards the silver ladder and the trapdoor.

And of course, he was right. The dimly lit room was sweltering hot, and the fumes from the perfuming fire seemed heavier than before. My head swam as I walked over to the tables by the curtained windows. Harry sat beside me, his face flushed from the heat as well. When Professor Trelawney wasn't looking, I reached up and opened the window a tiny bit, then me and Harry sat close to each other so the breeze played across our faces.

"My dears," Trelawney said, sitting in the winged armchair and she faced the class, peering at everyone with her strangely enlarged eyes, "we have nearly finished our work on planetary divination. Today, however, will be an excellent opportunity to examine the effects on Mars because he is placed most interestingly at this present time. If you will all look this way, I'll dim the lights..."

She waved her wand and the lamps across the room dimmed. The fire was the only source of light in the room. Professor Trelawney bent down and pulled a miniature model of the solar system out from under her chair, contained in a glass dome. It was beautiful, each moon glimmering in place around the nine planets and fiery sun, all of them hanging in thin air inside the globe. I watched lazily as Professor Trelawney began to point out the different angles Mars was making to Neptune. The heavily perfumed fumes washed over me, and the breeze from the window was making my fringe sweep lazily across my face. I could hear an insect humming gently somewhere behind the curtain. My eyelids began to drop...

Suddenly, I sat up. My heart was racing and I felt like I couldn't breath. I was panicking, but I couldn't see why. My eyes darted across the entire room, taking everything in but I couldn't see anything or hear anything that could make me panic. But yet, my heart was still thudding madly in my chest. My breaths were short and ragged. My vision was blurring, I couldn't see anything clearly, I closed my eyes...

"Max! Max!"

Someone was shaking me, yelling at me, but I couldn't open my eyes. Something was there, something dangerous, something that could hurt us all. I had to warn everyone, but I still couldn't get my breathing under control. I felt light-headed, I couldn't concentrate...

Then, just as soon as it had started, it was over. I took a deep, shaky breath and slowly opened my eyes. I was lying on the floor in Professor Trelawney's class, with everyone surrounding me. My chest was aching, and I still felt dizzy.

"Max?! Are you okay?"

I turned my head towards the voice. It was Iggy, who was kneeling by my head. I nodded slowly, then Iggy helped me sit up. I looked beside me, and saw that Ron was crouched down beside Harry, who was lying beside me, his hands covering his head, whimpering quietly.

"What happened to him?" I asked, gasping.

Iggy smirked. "Only you could pass out, not breathing properly, and ask about someone else." I shrugged, massaging my chest. "Seriously, though. What happened to him?"

"Well, he fell asleep, then a few seconds after you collapsed, Harry did. You weren't breathing properly, and Harry was clutching at his scar, whimpering. We didn't know what was happening-"

Trelawney came up behind Iggy, and pushed him to the side. "What was it, Ride? A premonition? What did you see?"

I stared at her. "Nothing," I said. I couldn't help looking around the class. I had been so sure that something was wrong, that something was going to hurt us. But why would I feel like that if nothing was there?

That was when Harry opened his eyes, and removed his hands from his head. His scar stood out against his pale and sweaty face, and his green eyes were watering. "You alright?" I asked him. Did the same thing happen to him? Or was it something different?

Harry nodded, grimacing.

"I think you two should go to the hospital wing," Fang said. I looked at Harry, who nodded, but I could see that he wasn't really going to go to the hospital wing. I stood up, my knees a bit wobbly, but I stayed on my feet. Harry stood up beside me, and when we started walking, the class started backing away, looking unnerved.

"See you later," I muttered to Ron, Iggy, and Fang. Harry and I walked down the trapdoor of Trelawney's room, and when we got down to the corridor, we set off in the different direction to the hospital wing. Sirius had told us that if anything weird happened, we should go to Dumbledore's office. And that's exactly what we were doing.

"So what happened to you?" I asked.

Harry looked at me. "Remember the dream I had before school started? It was like that, but different. Voldemort, Wormtail, and Nagini were there. Wormtail made a mistake or something, and Voldemort told him that someone was dead. He- he mentioned me. And some girl, I don't know who he was talking about. Then Voldemort, he- he started torturing Wormtail."

I stared at Harry. That was so much worse than what happened to me.

"What happened to you?"

I sighed. "I'm not sure. I didn't really see anything. I just started feeling panicked, then I couldn't breath. It felt like something was in that room, trying to attack us." I looked up at Harry. "Not as bad as what happened to you," I said, smirking slightly.

Harry smiled at me, seeming to relax slightly. We stopped walking before the stone gargoyle that protected Dumbledore's office. As we stood in front of it, that's when I realised that I didn't know the password.

"Er...please tell me that you know the password?" I said, looking at Harry. Harry shook his head.

"Brilliant," I muttered. "Can you remember what the password was in second year?"

Harry nodded. "Sherbet lemon?" he tried, but the gargoyle didn't move.

I groaned. "We just have to guess the password," I said. "Let's just guess as many sweets as we can until we get it right."

So we called out as many sweets we knew, but still the gargoyle remained still.

"Oh come on," Harry cried. "We really need to see Dumbledore! It's urgent!" But still, the gargoyle stayed still.

Harry kicked at it, hoping to get it to do something, but the only thing it achieved was Harry nearly breaking his toes.

"Chocolate frogs!" I said angrily. "Sugar quills! Cockroach Cluster!"

The gargoyle jumped aside, and me and Harry stared at it .

"Cockroach Cluster?" I said, amazed. "I was only joking...Dumbledore has weird taste..."

We hurried toward the gap and stepped onto the foot of a spiral staircase, which started moving slowly upwards as the doors closed behind us, taking us up to a polished oak door with a brass knocker.

We could hear voices from inside the office. I shared a look with Harry, and we both nodded. We stepped off the moving staircase, and stood by the door, listening.

"Dumbledore, I'm sorry but I just don't see the connection, don't see it at all!" It was the voice of the Minister of Magic, Cornelius Fudge. "Ludo says that Bertha's more than capable of getting herself lost. I agree we would have expected to have found her by now, but all the same there is no evidence of foul play, Dumbledore, none at all. As for her disappearance being linked with Barty Crouch's-"

"And what is it you think happened to Barty Crouch, Minister?" came Moody's growling voice.

"I see two possibilities, Alaster," Fudge said. "Either Crouch has finally lost his mind, gone off wondering somewhere-"

"He wandered quite quickly in that case, Cornelius," Dumbledore said calmly.

"Or else- well..." Fudge sounded embarrassed. "Well, I'll reserve judgement until after I've seen the place where he was found, but you say that it was near the Beauxbatons carriage? Dumbledore, you know what that woman is!"

"I consider her a very able headmistress- and an excellent dancer," Dumbledore said, and I could hear the smile in his voice.

"Dumbledore, come!" said Fudge angrily. "Don't you think you might be prejudiced in her favour because of Hagrid? They don't all turn out harmless- if indeed you can call Hagrid harmless, with that monster obsession he has-"

"I no more suspect Madame Maxime than Hagrid," Dumbledore said, just as calmly. "I think it possible that it is you who are prejudiced, Cornelius."

"Can we wrap up this discussion?" Moody growled.

"Yes, yes, lets go down to the grounds then," Fudge said impatiently.

"No, it's not that," Moody said. "It's just that Mr Potter and Miss Ride would like to talk to you, Headmaster. They're just outside the door."

* * *

><p><em><strong>I have no words to describe how terribly sorry I am that it took me this long. As I said at the start of the chapter, I've been studying for my Mocks (but thankfully they're over now) we've been getting heaps and heaps of homework, I feel like my heads about to explode. Not to mention I've been preparing for my Music practical (for the Junior Cert, I need to sing in front of an examiner and I get marked on it) and I've been trying to get used to singing in public, but I still can't sing in front of more than 3 people...<strong>_

_**So, for the past two months, I've been so freaking busy that I've barely gotten time to go near my laptop at all. Also, I've had MAJOR writers block, so please don't focus on how badly this chapter is written, just focus on the fact that there's a new chapter! :D**_

_**I want to thank the people who messaged and reviewed, telling me to hurry up and telling me that they were waiting for a new chapter. I wouldn't have gotten this chapter up yet if it hadn't been for those people, so this chapter is dedicated all for you guys! Thanks :D **_

_**Anyway, hope you enjoyed the chapter, and I'm sooooooooooo terribly sorry for how long it took :( hopefully, I never take that long again, but I can't make any promises. This year is going to be completely crazy, so sorry if they take a really long time. **_

_**But I will never give up on this story. I promise that. I will never just stop writing this story, that's not the kind of person I am. And, Arkell26, asked whether I was dead or missing... I would get a way to let you guys know if that ever happened (hopefully it won't) so don't worry about that. **_

_**I really love you guys, and thanks for everything :D **_

_**So, if you want cookies and butterbeer, you know the drill...**_

_**REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW! **_

_**-Rach ;) **_

_**LOOOOOOOOVE YOU GUYS! :D**_


	27. The Pensieve

_**AUTHORS NOTE! :P**_

_**Hey guys, how's it going?**_

_**As I said in the last chapter, I am sorry for how long it took. Hopefully, this one won't take as long.**_

_**Now I shall answer your reviews!**_

_**Arkell26: Of course I will :) thanks :D **_

_**FlyForever: That's a lot of so's... thanks a lot :D **_

_**Random Person: I have a lot of other fanfictions planned, but I won't do more than one story at a time. I read some authors fanfictions, who are doing more than one at the the same time, and they take a lot longer to update. I'd never get a chapter finished if I had more than one story going at the same time! **_

_**Guest: I've been thinking about that, and their families will definitely be revealed, more than likely in the sixth or seventh one though. **_

_**LoveTheBlade: I'm not going to make any promises :)**_

_**Kisa tracer: thanks, I really hope so too!**_

_**ChopSuzi: I know...I'd hate to be in the same house as him... *shudders***_

_**signofthemoon: I know, I'm getting slightly more confident now :) thanks :)**_

_**Guest/ Cookie Spasms: I know right? What is the actual point? I know there meant to get us prepared for the actual Junior Cert, but seriously they are completely pointless! **_

_**Thanks to everyone else that reviewed! Love you guys! **_

_**Enjoy the chapter! **_

_**-Rach ;)**_

* * *

><p><em><strong>Max's POV <strong>_

The door to the office opened.

"Hello, Potter, Ride," Moody said. "Come in, then."

I looked at Harry, then followed him into the office. I had been in Dumbledore's office, back in first year, when they told me and the flock that Jeb was dead, and then I hadn't noticed how beautiful the office was. It was a large, circular room, lined with pictures of previous headmasters and headmistresses, all of whom were asleep at the moment, their heads on their chests.

Cornelius Fudge was standing beside Dumbledore's desk, wearing his usual pinstriped cloak, and holding his bowler hat in his hands.

"Harry! Maximum!" Fudge said happily. "How are you?"

"Okay."

"Fine."

"We were just talking about the night when Mr Crouch turned up on the grounds," Fudge said. "It was the two of you that found him, wasn't it?"

"Yeah," I said. Then feeling that it was pointless to pretend that we hadn't heard what they were saying, I added, "And we didn't see Madame Maxime anywhere too. She'd have a hard time hiding as well, wouldn't see?"

Dumbledore smiled at us behind Fudge's back, his blue eyes twinkling.

"Yes, well," Fudge said, embarrassed, "we're about to go for a short walk in the grounds, if you'll both excuse us...perhaps if you return to your class-"

"We wanted to talk to you, Professor," Harry said quickly to Dumbledore, who gave us a swift, searching look.

"Wait here for me then," Dumbledore said. "Our examination of the grounds won't take long."

The three of them trooped out silently and closed the door. After a moment or two, I heard the clunks of Moody's wooden leg growing fainter and fainter. I looked around the office and smiled.

"Hey Fawkes," I said.

Dumbledore's phoenix, Fawkes, was standing on his golden perch beside the door. He was the size of a swam, with magnificent scarlet and golden feathers, and he swished his long tail and blinked at me and Harry.

"What are we going to tell Dumbledore?" I asked.

Harry shrugged. "Everything that happened, I guess," he said.

I sat down in the chair in front of Dumbledore desk and ran my fingers through my hair. "Could they be connected?" I said.

Harry frowned. "Connected how?"

"Well, you saw Voldemort torturing Wormtail for making a mistake... and I felt as if something was going to attack me. What if it was connected?"

Harry sighed, running his fingers over his scar. "I have no idea. Maybe Dumbledore will know more."

I stood up again and started pacing around the office. I looked up at the walls, and saw the glass case that held a magnificent silver sword, with large red rubies in the hilt. I recognised it as the sword that Harry had used to kill the Basilisk in second year. I could still see it, Harry kneeling over me, a giant dead snake behind him, and a large bloody sword beside him.

The sword had used belonged to Godric Gryffindor, founder of our House. I was staring at the sword when I noticed a patch of shimmering light on the case. I looked around for the source of the light and saw a silver-white shining brightly from within a black cabinet behind me, and the door hadn't been closed fully.

"Harry, look at that," I said. Harry turned around from where he was looking at the pictures of the old principals to where I was pointing. He stood beside me and said, "What is it?"

"No idea. One way to find out though," I said and walked towards the cabinet. Harry seemed to hesitate, then he followed me towards the cabinet.

I pulled open the cabinet door, and a shallow stone basin lay there, covered in odd markings around the edge: runes and symbols that I didn't recognise, even with the couple of runes I already knew from Hermione. The silvery light was coming from the basins contents. I couldn't tell if the substance was liquid or gas. It was bright, whitish silver, moving ceaselessly.

I wanted to reach out and touch it, but after four years of the magical world, and ten years in a scientific lab, I knew that sticking my hand in some unknown substance wasn't the smartest thing to do.

Beside me, Harry pulled out his wand, then gently prodded the substance.

The surface of the silvery stuff inside the basin started to swirl very fast.

Me and Harry bent closer, our heads inside the cabinet. The silvery substance was becoming transparent; it looked like glass. I looked down into it, expecting to see the stone bottom of the basin- but instead I saw a large room, and it seemed as if I was looking at the room through a circular window.

The room was dimly lit, like it was underground. There were no windows, just torches in brackets like the ones that light the corridors in Hogwarts. I looked over at Harry, and realised how close we were. We were nearly nose to nose. My cheeks went pink and I looked back to the basin. I lowered my face so that my nose was nearly touching the glassy substance, I saw that there were rows and rows of witches and wizards sitting around every wall on what seemed to be benches rising in levels. An empty chair stood in the middle of the room. There was something about the chair that made me feel very ominous. Chain encircled the arms of it, as if the people that sat on it were usually tied up.

I lifted my head again. "What is this place? It's definitely not Hogwarts," I said.

Harry shook his head. "No. Most of those people are adults anyway. Besides, I've never seen a room like that here."

I looked back into the basin, and noticed that they all seemed to be waiting for something. Each of the adults were facing the same direction, and none of them were talking to each other.

With the basin being circular, and the room being square, I couldn't see what was happening in the corners of the room. I leaned forward slightly, trying to see into the corners of the room-

The tip of my nose touched the substance.

Dumbledore's office gave an almighty lurch- I was thrown forward and pitched headfirst into the substance inside the basin, I could hear Harry shouting my name-

But my head didn't hit the stone bottom. I was falling through something icy-cold and black; it was like being thrown into a dark whirlpool...

Suddenly, I found myself sitting on a bench at the end of the room inside the basin, a bench raised high above the others. I looked up at the high, stone ceiling, expecting to see the circular window that we were looking through, but there was nothing there but dark, solid stone.

A second later, I felt something falling beside me. I looked to my right and saw Harry sitting beside me, looking around the room. "Harry! How did you get here?"

Harry looked me, looking slightly relieved. "Same way you did. I just touched the silvery stuff after you disappeared."

"Have you noticed that no one is paying us any attention? We're two teenagers that just dropped from the ceiling, and no one is even looking at us," I said, looking around at all the adults. None of them were paying us the least bit of attention.

I wheeled around when I heard Harry's cry out in surprise. My eyes widened when I saw that he was sitting beside Professor Dumbledore.

"Professor!" Harry cried. "I'm sorry- we didn't mean to- We were just looking at that basin in your cabinet- I- where are we?"

But Dumbledore didn't move or speak. He didn't even blink. He ignored the two of us completely. Like every other wizard, he was staring off into the far corner of the room, where there was a door.

I stared at Dumbledore, then around at the silently waiting crowd. Then it dawned on me...

"Harry," I said. "Remember the last time we were somewhere where no one could see or hear us?"

"Yeah, when we went into Riddle's diary," he said. I tried not to shudder at the mention of the diary. "We were in his memory."

"I think we're in one of Dumbledore's memories," I said quietly.

Harry seemed to hesitate, then he waved his hand energetically in front of Dumbledore's face. Dumbledore didn't blink, or jump, or even turn around to look at Harry. He didn't even move at all. That seemed to settle the matter. Dumbledore wouldn't just ignore anyone like that. We were inside a memory, more than likely Dumbledore's. Yet, it seemed like it wasn't that long ago. The Dumbledore sitting beside us was still silver-haired, just like the present-day Dumbledore. But what was this place? What were all the wizards waiting for?

I heard footsteps, and the door in the corner of the the room (although it looked more like a dungeon) opened, and three people came in- well, at least one man, flanked by two dementors.

My insides went cold. The dementors- tall, hooded creatures whose faces were concealed- were gliding slowly towards the chair in the middle of the room, each grasping one of the man's arms with their dead and rotten-looking hands. The man looked like he was going to faint, and I really couldn't blame him... I knew the dementors couldn't affect me in a dream, but I still remembered their powers only too well. The crowd of wizards and witches recoiled slightly as the dementors placed the man in the chair and glided back towards the door and out of the room. The door swung shut behind them.

I looked down at the man in the chair and saw that it was Karkaroff.

Unlike Dumbledore, Karkaroff looked much younger; his hair and his goatee were black, he was not dressed in his usual furs, but in thin and ragged robes. He was shaking. Even as we watched, the chains on the arm suddenly glowed, and they snaked their way up his arms, binding him there.

"Igor Karkaroff," said a curt voice. I turned around and saw Mr Crouch standing in the middle of the bench beside us. Crouch's hair was dark, his face much more less lined, he looked fit and alert. "You have been brought here from Azkaban to present evidence to the Ministry of Magic. You have given us reason to understand that you have information for us."

Karkaroff straightened himself in his chair as much as he could, still tightly bound to the chair.

"I have sir," he said, and although his voice was very scared, I could still hear the familiar unctuous tone in it. "I wish to be of use to the Ministry. I want to help. I- I know that the Ministry is trying to round up the last of the Death Eaters. I am more than eager to help in any way I can-"

There was a murmur from around the benches. Some of the wizards and witches surveying Karkaroff with interest, other with plain mistrust. Then I heard a familiar voice growl, "Filth."

I leaned forward so that I could see past Dumbledore, and saw Mad-Eye Moody- except I could see a considerable difference in his appearance. He didn't have his magical eye, but two normal ones. Both of them were trained on Karkaroff, but narrowed in dislike.

"Crouch is going to let him out," Moody whispered to Dumbledore. "He's done a deal with him. Took me six months to track him down, and Crouch is going to let him go if he gives him enough names. I say we hear his information and throw him back to the dementors."

Dumbledore made a strange noise through his long, crooked nose.

"Ah, I was forgetting...you don't like dementors, do you Albus?" Moody said with a sardonic smile.

"No," Dumbledore said calmly, "I'm afraid I don't. I have long felt that the Ministry is wrong in using them as allies."

"But for filth like this," Moody said softly.

"You say that you have names for us, Karkaroff," Crouch said. "Let's hear them, please."

"You must understand," Karkaroff said hurriedly, "that He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named always operated with the utmost secrecy...He preferred that we- I mean to say, his supporters- and I regret now, deeply, that I ever counted myself with them-"

"Get on with it," Moody growled.

"-we never knew the names of every one of his followers- He alone knew exactly who we all were-"

"Which was a wise move on his part, as if prevented people like Karkaroff, from turning them all in," muttered Moody.

"Yet you say you have some names for us?" Crouch said.

"I- I do," Karkaroff said breathlessly. "And these were important supporters, mind you. People I saw with my own eyes doing the Dark Lords bidding. I give this information as a sign that I fully renounce my old ways, and him, and am filled with so much remorse so deep that I can barely-"

"These names are?" Crouch interrupted.

Karkaroff took a deep breath.

"There was Antonin Dolohov," he said, "I- I saw his torture countless Muggles and- and non-supporters of the Dark Lord."

"And helped him do it," murmured Moody.

"We have apprehended Dolohov," said Crouch without hesitation. "We caught him shortly after yourself."

"Indeed?" Karkaroff said, eyes widening, "I- I am delighted to hear it!"

But he definitely didn't look it. I could tell that this news had come as a real blow to him- one of his names were worthless.

"Any others?" Crouch asked coldly.

"Why, yes...there was Rosier," Karkaroff said hurriedly. "Evan Rosier."

"Rosier is dead," Crouch said. "He was caught shortly after you too. He preferred to fight than to come quietly and was killed in the struggle."

"Took a bit of me with him though, didn't he?" Moody whispered behind me. I looked around at him, and saw him pointing to the large chunk that was missing from his nose to Dumbledore.

"No- no more than Rosier deserved!" Karkaroff said, a hint of panic setting into his voice. I could that he was starting to worry that none of his information would be of any use to the Ministry. His eyes darted toward the door in the corner, behind which the dementors stood waiting.

"Any more?" Crouch asked.

"Yes!" Karkaroff said. "There was Travers- he helped murder the McKinnons! Mulciber- he specialized in the Imperius Curse, forced countless people to do horrific things! Rookwood, he was a spy! He passed He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named useful information from inside the Ministry itself!"

I could tell that this time, Karkaroff had struck gold. The crowd were all murmuring together.

"Rookwood?" Crouch said, nodding to a witch sitting in front of him, who began scribbling upon her piece of parchment. "Augustus Rookwood of the Department of Mysteries?"

"The very same," Karkaroff nodded eagerly. "I believe he used a network of well-placed wizards, both inside the Ministry and out, to collect information-"

"But Travers and Mulciber we have," Mr Crouch said. "Very well, Karkaroff, if that is all, you will returned to Azkaban while we decide-"

"No! Karkaroff cried. "Not yet! I have more!"

I could see him sweating in the torchlight, his pale skin contrasting strongly with his black hair and beard.

"Snape!" he shouted. "Severus Snape!"

"Snape has already been cleared by this council," Crouch said. "He has been vouched for by Albus Dumbledore."

"No!" Karkaroff cried desperately, straining against the chains on the chair. "I assure you! Severus Snape is a Death Eater!"

Dumbledore rose to his feet.

"I have already given evidence on this matter," he said calmly. "Severus Snape was indeed a Death Eater. However, he rejoined our side before Lord Voldemort's downfall, and turned spy for us, at great personal risk. Now, he is no more a Death Eater than I am."

I turned and looked at Moody. He was staring at Dumbledore with great skepticism.

"I have to tell you, I'm not really surprised," I said to Harry. "I always knew there was something evil about Snape."

Harry nodded and said, "I wouldn't be surprised if he still was one."

"Very well, Karkaroff," Crouch said, "you have been of assistance. I shall review your case. You will return to Azkaban in the meantime..."

Crouch's voice faded. I looked around; the dungeon was dissolving as though it was made of smoke...everything was fading...all I could see was my own body- everything else was swirling darkness...

And then the dungeon returned. Me and Harry were sitting in different seats, still on the highest bench, but now to the left of Mr. Crouch. The atmosphere seemed very different: relaxed, even cheerful. All of the witches and wizards around the walls were talking to each other, laughing, almost as if they were at some sort of sporting event. I noticed a witch halfway up the rows of benches on the opposite side. She had short blond hair, was wearing magenta robes, and was sucking the end of a lime-green quill. It was, unmistakably, a younger Rita Skeeter. I looked around; Dumbledore was sitting beside Harry again, and I was beside Mr. Crouch, who looked different...he looked more tired, and somehow fiercer, gaunter... we were in a different memory, a different day...a different trial.

The door in the corner opened, and Ludo Bagman walked into the room, his eyes focused on his shoes the entire time.

It was not, however, the same Ludo Bagman I knew. This was clearly the Ludo Bagman at the height of his Quidditch career. His nose wasn't bent, and he was tall, lean and muscular. Bagman looked nervous as he sat down in the chained chair, but the chains didn't bind him to it. Probably taking heart from this, Bagman finally looked up around the crowd, waved at a couple of them, and offered a small smile.

"Ludo Bagman, you have been brought here to the Court of Magical Law to answer charges relating to the activities of the Death Eaters," Crouch said. "We have heard the evidence against you, and are about to reach our verdict. Do you have anything to add to your testimony before we pronounce judgement?"

I couldn't believe it. Ludo Bagman, a Death Eater? What the hell?

"Only," Bagman smiled awkwardly, "well- I know I've been a bit of an idiot-"

A few of the wizards in the seats smiled. Crouch didn't seem to share their feelings. He was staring at Bagman like someone would stare at a gone-off chicken.

"You've never spoken a truer word, boy," someone beside Dumbledore said. I looked around, and again saw Moody. "If I didn't know that he'd always been dim, I would of said that those Bludgers permanently damaged his brain."

"Ludovic Bagman, you were caught passing on information to Lord Voldemort's supporters," Crouch said. "For this, I suggest a term of imprisonment in Azkaban lasting no less than-"

But there was an angered outcry from the surrounding benches. Several of the witches and wizards stood up, shaking their heads and Crouch.

"I've already told you! I had no idea!" Bagman called. "None at all! Old Rookwood was a friend of my dads...never crossed my mind that he was a Death Eater! I thought I was collecting information for our side! And Rookwood kept talking about getting me a career in the Ministry in a few years... once my Quidditch career is over, you know? I can't keep getting hit by Bludgers for the rest of my life!"

There were mutters from the crowd. I turned to Harry, and raised an eyebrow. He just shrugged, looking as dumbfounded as I felt.

"It will be put to a vote," Crouch said coldly. He turned to the right-hand side of the dungeon. "The jury will please raise their hands...those in favour of imprisonment..."

Not one of them raised their hands. Many of the other wizards and witches began to clap. Once of the witches on the jury stood up, wringing her hands nervously.

"Yes?" Crouch barked.

The witch took a deep breath. "We would just like the congratulate Mr. Bagman on his splendid performance for England in the Quidditch match again Turkey last Tuesday," she said breathlessly.

Crouch looked furious. I thought he was going to throw the table over any second. Bagman got to his feet, beaming and bowing.

"Despicable," Crouch spat to Dumbledore, watching as Bagman walked out of the dungeon. "Rookwood get him a job indeed...the day Ludo Bagman joins us will a very sad day for the Ministry..."

And the dungeon dissolved again. When it returned, I looked around. I was sitting in the middle of Harry and Dumbledore, and to Harry's left was Crouch. The atmosphere couldn't have been more different from the last memory. There was complete silence, sometimes interrupted by the loud choking sobs of a frail looking woman in the seat beside Crouch. She was clutching a handkerchief to her mouth with trembling hands.

I looked at Crouch more closely, and noticed that he was looking paler and gaunter than before. There was a nerve twitching in his temple.

"Bring them in," he said, his voice echoing across the empty dungeon.

The door in the corner opened again. Six dementors entered this time, flanking a group of four people. I saw the people in the crowd turn to look at Crouch, whispering to one another.

The dementors placed the four people in the four chairs with chains of the arms that now stood on the dungeon floor. There was a thickset man who stared blankly up at Crouch; a thinner and more nervous looking man, whose eyes were darting around the crowd; a woman with thick, shining black hair and heavily hooded eyes, who was sitting in the chained chair as if it was a throne; and a boy in his late teens, who looked nothing short of petrified. He was shivering, his straw-coloured hair all over his face, his freckled skin milk-white. The fragile little witch beside Crouch began rocking backward and forward in her seat, whimpering pathetically into her handkerchief.

Crouch stood up. He looked down upon the four of them, nothing but pure hatred on his face.

"You have been brought here in front of the Council of Magical Law," he said clearly, "so that we may pass judgement on you, for a crime heinous-"

"Father," said the boy with the straw-coloured hair, "Father...please..."

"-that we have rarely heard the like of within this court," Crouch said, speaking more loudly, drowning out his son's voice.

"We have heard the evidence against you. The four of you stand accused of capturing an Auror- Frank Longbottom- and subjecting him to the Cruciatus Curse, believing him to have knowledge of the present whereabouts of your exiled master, He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named-"

"Father, I didn't!" shrieked the teenage boy. "I didn't, I swear it. Father, don't send me back to the dementors-"

"You are further accused," Mr Crouch bellowed, "of using the Cruciatus Curse on Frank Longbottom's wife, Alice Longbottom, when he would not give you information. You planned to restore He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named to power, and to resume the lives of violence you presumably led while he was strong . I now ask the jury-"

Crouch stopped talking when the door in the corner opened, and an older looking man walked quickly in towards Crouch, and when he got to Crouch, he whispered urgently into his ear, and handed him a file. Crouch nodded and the man walked off again, after giving the four tied to the chair filthy looks.

I stared at Crouch curiously, wondering what the man had told him, and what was in the file. Crouch was flicking through the file, and the wizards and witches around the walls starting whispering to each other. Crouch closed the file, and took a deep breath.

"According to this new evidence, it seems as if on top of using the Cruciatus Curse on Frank and Alice Longbottom, that two of you helped He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named in the torture and murder of Grace Collins, almost a year ago."

Everything seemed to dim around me. I stared at the four people sitting in front of me. Which of them helped Voldemort killed my mother? Did it say in that file? I stood up, ready to walk over to Crouch and take the file, but Harry took my hand.

"What?" I said, turning around.

"You can't do anything, Max," he said.

"Of course I can do something!" I snapped. "Two of them tortured my mother!"

"And this was about thirteen years ago, Max! For all we know, they're in Azkaban. Just sit down, and we'll see what they say," Harry said. I stared at him and said quietly, "I never even knew that she was tortured. All Sirius told me was that Voldemort killed her. She was _tortured, _Harry! I can't let that go!"

"I'm not asking you to let it go," Harry said, "I'm just asking you to sit, and we'll figure this out later. There's nothing we can do now. Please, Max."

I stared into his eyes, brown meeting green, and nodded, sitting down. Of course, no one noticed our little conversation.

I looked back to the four Death Eaters, and noticed that ever since Crouch brought up my mother, the woman had been grinning, her dark eyes glinting. She had to have been one of the ones that tortured my mother.

Meanwhile, the teenage boy was in hysterics. "Mother!" he was screaming, and the wispy witch sitting beside Crouch began to sob loudly, still rocking forward and backward. "Mother, stop him! Mother, please, I didn't do anything! It wasn't me!"

"I now ask the jury," Crouch shouted, "to raise their hands if they believe, as I do, that these crimes deserve a life sentence in Azkaban!"

At the same time, the witches and wizards along the right-hand side of the dungeon raised their hands. The crowd began to clap as they had for Bagman, their faces full of triumph. The boy began to scream.

"No, Mother, no! I didn't do it, I didn't do it, I didn't know! Don't send me there, don't let him!"

The dementors glided back into the room. The boys three companions rose quickly from their seats; the woman with the heavy-lidded eyes looked up at Crouch and called, "The Dark Lord will rise again, Crouch! We'll wait for him in Azkaban! When he rises again, he will come get us! We alone are faithful! We alone tried to find him!"

But the boy was trying to fight off the dementors, even though I could see their cold, draining power starting to affect him. The crowd were cheering, some of them even on their feet, as the woman was swept out of the dungeon, and the boy continued to struggle.

"I'm your son!" he screamed at Crouch. "I'm your son!"

"You are no son of mine!" Crouch bellowed, his eyes bugling. "I have no son!"

The witch beside Crouch gave a gasp and slumped in her seat. She had fainted, and it looked like Crouch hadn't even noticed.

"Take them away!" Crouch roared, spit flying from his mouth. "Take them away, and let them rot there!"

"Father! Father! I wasn't involved! Please Father! No! No!"

"I think, Harry, Max, it's time to return to my office," came a quiet voice from beside us.

I started, and looked around.

There was an Albus Dumbledore sitting to my left, watching the dementors dragging away Crouch's son- and there was an Albus Dumbledore sitting on my right, looking right at me and Harry.

"Come," said the Dumbledore on my right, and he put his hand under me and Harry's elbows. I felt myself rising into the air; the dungeon was dissolving around me- for a moment, there was only blackness, and then I felt as if I had done a slow-motion somersault, suddenly landing on my feet in Dumbledore's sunlit office. The stone basin was shimmering in the cabinet in front of me, and Albus Dumbledore was standing beside me and Harry.

"Professor," Harry gasped. "I know I shouldn't've- we didn't mean to- the cabinet door was sort of open and-"

"I understand," Dumbledore said. He lifted the basin, carried it over to his desk, placed it on top of his polished top, and sat down in the chair behind it. He motioned for me and Harry to sit down opposite him.

I sat down, staring at the stone basin. It's contents had returned to it's original, silvery -white state.

"What is it?" I asked.

"This? It's called a Pensieve," Dumbledore said. "I sometimes find, and I am sure the both of you know the feeling, that I simply have too many thoughts and memories crammed into my head."

I stared at Dumbledore. It was almost as if he knew what it felt like those few months after escaping from the School, the consent fear that we would go back, all of the thoughts and memories of what had been done to us there, of what Donovan did to me, of all the nightmares.

I didn't say anything, I just stared at the Pensieve, waiting for Dumbledore to continue.

"At these times," he said, pointing to the Pensieve, "I use this. One simply siphons the excess thoughts from ones mind, pours them into the basin, and examines them at ones leisure. It becomes easier to see patterns and links in this form."

"So that stuff is your thoughts?" I said, staring at the swirling white substance in the basin.

"Certainly," Dumbledore said. "Let me show you."

Dumbledore drew out his wand out of his robes and placed it to the tip of his silvery hair, near his temple. When he took the wand away, it looked like there was hair sticking to it- but then I saw that it was same shimmering substance that filled the Pensieve. Dumbledore than added the new thought to the Pensieve, and I was astonished to see mine and Harry's faces swimming around in the bowl. Then our faces faded, and they were replaced by Snape's, who opened his mouth and spoke to the ceiling.

"It's coming back...Karkaroff's too...stronger and more clearer than ever..."

"A connection I could have made without much assistance," Dumbledore muttered. "But never mind that." He peered over the edge of his half-moon spectacles at me and Harry. "I was using the Pensieve when Mr. Fudge arrived for our meeting and I put it away quite hastily. Obviously I didn't close the cabinet door properly. Naturally, it would have attracted your attention."

"Sorry," we both mumbled.

Dumbledore shook his head. "Curiosity is not a sin," he said. "But we should always exercise with our curiosity...yes, indeed..."

Frowning slightly, he poked at the thoughts with his wand. Instantly, a figure rose from the Pensive, a plump, scowling girl of about sixteen who began to revolve slowly, her feet still in the basin. She took no notice of us at all, but her voice echoed around the office just as Snape's did. "He hexed me, Professor Dumbledore, and I was only teasing him, sir. I only said that I'd seen him kissing Florence behind the greenhouses on Thursday..."

"But why, Bertha?" Dumbledore said sadly. "Why did you have to follow him in the first place?"

"Bertha?" Harry said. "That's Bertha Jorkins?"

"Yes," Dumbledore said, prodding the thoughts in the pool again. Bertha sank back into the basin, and they became silvery-white again. "That was Bertha as I remember her at school."

The silvery light from the Pensieve struck Dumbledore's face, and it struck me how very old he looked.

"So, Harry, Max," Dumbledore said quietly. "Before we get lost in my thoughts, you two had something you wanted to tell me."

I looked at Harry, who nodded, then I turned back to Dumbledore. "Yes, sir," I said. "We were in Divination just now and- er- Harry fell asleep. And I nearly passed out."

"Quite understandable," Dumbledore said. "Carry on."

"Well, I had a dream," Harry said. "A dream about Lord Voldemort. He was torturing Wormtail...you know who Wormtail-"

"I do know," Dumbledore said. "Please continue."

"Voldemort said something like Wormtail's blunder had to be repaired. He said someone was dead. Then he said, Wormtail wouldn't be fed to the snake- there was a snake beside the chair- he said he'd be feeding me to it instead. Then he did the Cruciatus Curse on Wormtail- and my scar hurt," Harry said. "It woke me up, it hurt so much."

Dumbledore stared at Harry for a few minutes, then turned to me. "And what happened to you, Max?"

"Er," I said, wondering what was the best way to describe what happened. "Well, I was just about to fall asleep, but then I started feeling really panicky and scared, and I kept thinking that someone was in the Divination room, about to attack everyone that in there. I couldn't breath, or see properly." The more I was talking about it, the more I was remembering about what I actually felt after I fell to the floor. "My body was sore. My head and chest hurt the most, but my entire body felt like it was on fire."

Dumbledore stared at me.

"Er...that's it," I said.

"I see," Dumbledore said quietly. He turned to Harry and said. "Now, has your scar hurt at any other time this year, excepting the time it woke you up over the summer?"

"No, I- how did you know it woke me up over the summer?" Harry said.

"The two of you aren't Sirius's only correspondent," Dumbledore said. "I have also been in contact with Sirius since he left Hogwarts last year. It was I that suggested mountainside cave in Hogsmeade as the safest place for him to stay."

He looked at me. "And have you ever felt that before? Have you ever felt like that, when there was absolutely nothing there to harm you?"

I shook my head. "Nope. I'd definitely remember if I felt that before."

Dumbledore got up and began pacing behind his desk. Every now and then, he'd place his wand to his temple and withdraw another memory, adding it to the Pensieve. The thoughts inside began to swirl so fast I wasn't able to make any of it out- it was all just a blur of colour.

"Professor?" I said after a few minutes.

He stopped pacing and stared at me and Harry.

"My apologies," he said quietly, sitting back at his desk.

"D'you- d'you know why my scar is hurting me?" Harry asked.

"Or why that just happened in Divination?" I added.

Dumbledore looked intently at us for a minute. "I have a theory," he said after a minute, "no more than that...It is my belief that your scar hurts both when Lord Voldemort is near, and when he is feeling a particular strong surge of hatred."

"But...why?"

"And that doesn't explain what happened to me. Or why Harry actually saw what was happening," I said.

"I'm sorry, Max, but I have no idea why you felt what you did. I believe that Harry's scar hurts, and he sees those things, because there is a connection between Harry and Lord Voldemort by a failed curse." He turned to Harry. "That is no ordinary scar, Harry."

"So do you think...that dream...really happened?"

"It is possible," Dumbledore said. "I would say probable. Harry- did you actually see Voldemort?"

"No," Harry said. "Just the back of a chair. But- there wouldn't have been anything to see, would there? I mean, he hasn't got a body, has he? But...but then how could he hold a wand?" Harry said slowly.

"How indeed?" Dumbledore said. "How indeed..."

None of us spoke for several minutes. Dumbledore was staring at the other side of the room, occasionally adding a new memory to the Pensieve.

"Professor," I said at last. "Do you think he's getting stronger?"

"Voldemort?" Dumbledore said, looking at me over the Pensieve. It was the characteristic, piercing look that Dumbledore had given us on countless occasions, and always made me feel as if Dumbledore was looking right through me in a way that Moody's magical eye couldn't. "Once again, Max, I can only give you my suspicions."

"Well, what do you suspect?" I pushed.

"The years of Voldemort's ascent of power," Dumbledore said, "were marked with disappearances. Bertha Jorkins has vanished from the place where Voldemort was certainly known to be last. Mr. Crouch has too vanished without a trace...within these very grounds. And there was a third disappearance, one which the Ministry, I am sad to say, are taking no interest in. A Muggle, by the name of Frank Bryce. He lived in the village where Voldemort's father grew up, and he has not been seen since last August. You see, unlike most of my Ministry friends, I read the Muggle newspapers."

Dumbledore looked at us very seriously.

"To me, these disappearances are linked. However, the Ministry don't agree with me- as I'm sure you heard, while waiting outside my office."

Silence fell again for another few minutes, and even though I felt as if we should of left, I still had one thing I need to talk to Dumbledore about. Thankfully, Harry brought it up before I had to.

"Professor?" Harry said.

"Yes?" Dumbledore said.

"Er...could I ask you about the court thing we were in? In the Pensieve?"

"You could," Dumbledore said. "I attended it many times, but more memories come back clearer than others... especially now..."

"Crouch said that two of those Death Eaters helped Voldemort torture and kill my mom," I said, the sentence rushed. "Was it true?"

Dumbledore nodded gravely. "I'm afraid so. However, I have no idea which two. It was never released, or confirmed. But even before that case, I had heard rumours that Lord Voldemort had two of his Death Eaters with him at the time."

"Does Sirius know?" I asked, my voice thick.

"That your mother was tortured? I'm not sure. I haven't told him," Dumbledore said. "As far as I know, Sirius just thinks that your mother was killed by Voldemort quickly. A simple Killing Curse."

I opened my mouth, but closed it again, at a lose of what to say.

"You know- you know the trial that you found us in?" Harry said, and I felt so grateful that he changed the subject. "The one with Crouch's son? They were- they were talking about Neville's parents, weren't they?"

Dumbledore gave us both a sharp look. "Has Neville ever told you why he lives with his grandmother?" he asked.

I shook my head, wondering why over the four years I've known Neville, been friends with him, I've never asked him.

"Yes, they were talking about Neville's parents," Dumbledore said. "His father Frank, was an Auror just like Professor Moody. He and his wife, Alice, were tortured for information about Voldemort's whereabouts shortly after he lost his powers, as you've heard."

"So they're dead?" I said quietly.

"No," Dumbledore said, a sudden tone of bitterness in his voice. "They are insane. They are both at St. Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries. I believe Neville visits them at the holidays with his grandmother, but they don't recognise him."

I sat there, completely horror-struck. Never, not in four years, did it ever cross my mind that not once did Neville talk about his parents, or why he lived with his grandmother. Sure, he talked about his grandmother, but never why he actually lives with her.

"The Longbottom's were very popular," Dumbledore said. "The attacks on them came very shortly after Voldemort's fall from power, just when everyone was starting to think they would be safe. Those attacks caused a wave of fury I'd never seen the like of before. The Ministry was under great pressure to find those who did it. Unfortunately, the Longbottom's evidence wasn't very reliable- given their condition."

"Then Mr. Crouch's son mightn't have been involved at all?" Harry said.

Dumbledore shook his head. "As to that, I have no idea."

I sat in silence, watching the contents of the Pensieve swirl. There were still some things I wanted to know...

"Ludo Bagman..." I said.

"Has never been accused of being a Death Eater since," Dumbledore said.

"Right," I said, "and...er..."

"Snape?" Harry finished for me.

"Neither has Severus," Dumbledore said calmly.

I stared into Dumbledore's twinkling blue eyes, and the question I really wanted to know just came out before I could event think about it. "What makes you so certain that he just suddenly stopped working for Voldemort?"

Dumbledore looked between me and Harry and said, "That is a matter between Professor Snape and myself."

I knew this little interview was over. Dumbledore didn't look angry, but there was a finality in his tone that told me it was time to go. I stood up, and so did Harry and Dumbledore.

"Harry, Max," Dumbledore said when we reached the door, "do not speak of Neville's parents to anyone. He will let people know when he is ready."

"Of course, sir," I said.

"Yes, sir," Harry said.

"And-"

We both turned around. Dumbledore was standing by the Pensieve, his face lit from beneath by it's silvery contents. He stared at Harry for a minute, before saying, "Good luck in the Third Task."

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><p><em><strong>Whoo! It didn't take me as long as the last chapter did! Yay :D <strong>_

_**Anyway, sorry if it sucked, and a bit rushed... yeah, sorry :( but it is reaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaly long, so that should make up for it :D **_

_**anyway, I hope you all still enjoyed it :) there aren't many chapters left in this story (7 to be exact) but I still haven't decided if there will one of two extra chapters at the end... hmmmm...**_

_**Anyway, just remember, the more reviews I get, the faster I'll write! :D **_

_**Also, if you want cookies and Butterbeer, you need to...**_

_**REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW! :D **_

_**Love you guys :) **_

_**-Rach ;) **_


	28. The Kiss

_**AUTHORS NOTE! :P**_

_**Hello my lovelies! **_

_**Well, here it is- The Third and final task!**_

_**My own little devious plot starts making itself known in this chapter, and everyone who asked what was Max's involvement in the Third Task was, well you shall find out with this chapter!**_

_**Now I shall answer some reviews...**_

_**Cookie Spasms: Yeah, I'd love to say that to some of my teachers... Thanks :)**_

_**Arkell26: I always got confused with that, is Butterbeer meant to be alcoholic? I mean, the word beer in there kinda makes it sound slightly alcoholic...but then there are thirteen year olds drinking it...I'm so confused about Butterbeer, but I still wanna drink it! o.O**_

_**Random Person: Well, right now Gazzy is around 8/9, but he'll be arriving at Hogwarts when the gang are in sixth year, and Angel won't be attending Hogwarts, because she'll only be nine when this story finishes. And I don't recognise any of those references haha :P **_

_**PatrickNotStar: (hehehe I love your name) I think you might like this chapter than... ;)**_

_**Thanks to everyone else that reviewed, and to everyone that alerted and everything :) **_

_**Now on with the chapter!**_

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><p><strong><em>Max's POV<em>**

"So Dumbledore thinks that You-Know-Who is getting stronger again?" Iggy asked.

Everything me and Harry had seen in the Pensieve, and everything that Dumbledore told you afterwards, we had now told Ron, Hermione, Fang, Iggy and Nudge- and Sirius of course, to whom we had sent a letter to the moment we left Dumbledore's office. The seven of us stayed up late that night in the common room, talking it all over.

Ron was sitting in the chair closest to the fire, and he was staring into the flames. I thought I saw Ron shiver slightly, even though the room was warm.

"And he trusts Snape?" Iggy went on. "He trusts Snape? Even though he knows that used to be a Death Eater?"

"Yup," I said, lying on my stomach on the carpet. "I reckon he's completely bonkers."

Hermione, who hadn't spoken in nearly ten minutes, looked up from where she had been staring at her knees, and said, "Rita Skeeter."

"How can you be worrying about her now?" Ron said in disbelief.

"I'm not worrying about her," she said, looking back at her knees. "I'm just thinking...Remember what she said to me in the Three Broomsticks?`I know things about Ludo Bagman that would make your hair curl.' That had to be what she meant, right? She reported that trial, knew that Bagman passed information to the Death Eaters. And Winky too, remember...`Ludo Bagman's a bad wizard.' Mr. Crouch would of been furious that he got let off, so he would of talked about it when he got home..."

"Yeah, but Bagman didn't purposely pass on that information, did he?" Nudge said.

Hermione shrugged.

"And Fudge thinks that Madame Maxime attacked Crouch?" Fang said, turning to me.

"Yeah, but he's only saying that because he went missing by the Beauxbatons carriage."

"We never thought of her, did we?" Iggy said. "She's definitely got giants blood, she doesn't want to admit it-"

"Of course she doesn't want to admit it," Harry said. "Look at what happened to Hagrid when Skeeter found out that he was half-giant. Look at Fudge, jumping to conclusions about her because she's half-giant. I'd probably say that I had big bones if I knew that's what would happen to me if I told the truth."

Hermione looked at her watch and gasped. "We haven't done any practising!" she said, looking shocked. "We were supposed to practice the Impediment Curse! We're really going to have to get down on it tomorrow! Come on, Harry, you need to get sleep!"

We were all supposed to be studying for our exams, which would finish on the day of the third task, but we were putting more effort into helping Harry prepare for the task.

"Don't worry about it," I said one day when Harry brought it up. "Hermione has the two of us studying in our rooms whenever we have time. And besides, we're going to get top marks in Defence Against the Dark Arts. We'd never have learned these hexes otherwise, not with the teachers we've had..."

"Good training for when we're all Aurors," Ron said brightly.

"I dunno, I'd rather be a Healer," Iggy said. We all stared at him.

"What?" he said, his pale face going slightly pink.

"You? Wanting to _help _other people? Who are you and what have you done to Iggy?" I said, my mouth hanging open.

Iggy snorted. "Oh shut up. I knew I shouldn't have said anything."

I walked over to him. "Don't be silly, Iggy. I was only joking. You'd make a great Healer." He smiled brightly at me. "Thanks Max."

The atmosphere in the castle changed again when we entered June. It became tense and excited. Everyone was looking forward to the final task, that would take place a week before the summer holidays. I noticed that Harry was practising hexes at any available moment, and that Hermione was studying whenever she could get her hands on a book. I was studying every evening and morning before breakfast, as was the rest of the flock and Ron, but none of us were as entangled in it as Hermione was.

Tired of walking into classrooms all over the castle and finding us there, half of us studying, and the other half helping Harry practise, Professor McGonagall let us use the empty Transfiguration room at lunchtimes and sometimes in the evenings. We had all soon mastered the Impediment Curse; a spell that slowed down and obstruct attackers; the Reductor Curse, that could blast solid objects out of the way (I believe it was one of Iggy's personal favourites); and the Four-Point spell, a useful discovery of Hermione's that would point your want due north. Harry was having trouble with the Shield Charm, though. It was supposed to cast a temporary, invisible wall between the caster and the attacker, and it deflected minor curses.

"You're still doing really well though, Harry," Hermione said, crossing the Reductor Curse off the list of curses and hexes we we made in the library. "Most of these are bound to come in handy."

"Come and look at this," Fang said from where he was standing by the window. "What's Malfoy up to?"

The rest of us went over to the window and looked out at the grounds. Mafloy, Crabbe and Goyle were standing in the shadow of a tree below. It looked like Crabbe and Goyle were keeping a look out, and both of them were smirking. Malfoy was holding his hand up to his mouth, and it looked like he was whispering to it.

"Looks like he's using a walkie-talkie," Harry said curiously.

"He can't be," Hermione said. "I've already told you, Muggle technology can't work in Hogwarts."

"So what's he doing?" Ron asked, frowning.

I shrugged. "Beats me. It's Malfoy. That bloke is weirder than us."

**I wouldn't dismiss this that fast, Maximum.**

_Ah, Voice. Where have you been lately? Holidaying in someone else's head?_

**This is no joke, Maximum. Something terrible is going to happen, and you need to be ready. **

_What's going to happen? Does it involve the Tournament? Harry? _

**Be careful, Maximum. Stay on guard and stay focused. **

_Oh, for the love of God! Can't you just tell me what's going to happen? Do you even know what's going to happen? Or is it just a feeling? Does Voices even get feelings? _

**Of course I know what's going to happen. **

_So tell me! _

Silence.

I wasn't surprised.

"Max? You okay?" Harry asked, putting his hand on my bare arm (it was too warm to wear our jumpers- and besides, everyone knew about our wings, so why hide them?) and I jumped, feeling as if electricity was surging through me.

"Hmm? Oh, yeah I'm fine. Come on, let's keep practising the Shield Charm."

Sirius was sending daily letters now. He too, like Hermione, seemed to want to only concentrate on getting Harry through the last task before we even concentrated on anything else. He reminded us in every letter that whatever was going on outside the castle walls was not our responsibility.

_If Voldemort really is getting stronger again,_ Sirius wrote, _my priority is to ensure your and Max's safety. He cannot hope to lay on either of you while you are under Dumbledore's protection, but all the same, take no risks. Harry, concentrate on getting through the maze safely, and then we can turn our attention to other matters. _

Breakfast was very noisy in the Great Hall on the morning of the third task. The post-owls arrived, giving Harry a good luck card from Sirius, and a letter to me from Sirius as well, just asking how I was, how my exams were going, and apologising for focusing on Harry so much these past few weeks. He even made a few crappy jokes about living in a cave. I grinned, re-reading the letter. Sirius was an awesome dad.

A screech-owl arrived, bearing the Daily Prophet for Hermione. She took it off the owl, gave it the money, then unfolded the paper, looked at the front page and spat her pumpkin juice all over it.

"What is it?" we all asked. She shook her head. "Nothing," she said, shoving the newspaper out of sight, but Fang grabbed it. He stared at it and his dark eyes widened. "No way. Not today. That old cow."

"What?" I asked. "Rita Skeeter again?"

"No," Fang said quickly, and just like Hermione, he tried to shove the newspaper out of sight.

"It's about me, isn't it?" Harry asked.

"No," Fang and Hermione said together in a very unconvincing tone. But before he could grab the paper, Draco Malfoy shouted from across the hall, "Hey, Potter! Ride! How are you feeling? Sure neither of you are going to go insane on us?"

I turned around and faced Fang and Hermione. "She wrote about me too?"

"Let me see it," Harry said. "Now. Give it here."

Reluctantly, Hermione handed the paper over to Harry. I leaned over his shoulder to see the newspaper. I saw my own face, beside Harry's, staring back up at me, beneath the headline:

**_Harry Potter, the Boy Who Lived, and Maximum Ride, The Girl With Wings- Disturbed and Dangerous!_  
>Harry Potter, the boy who defeated You-Know-Who, and Maximum Ride, daughter of mass murderer Sirius Black, and the girl who was born with wings, are both possibly unstable and dangerous, writes Rita Skeeter, Special Correspondent. Startling evidence has recently come to light about Potter and Ride's strange behaviour. This behaviour has cast some doubt on Potter's suitability to compete in the demanding competition of the Triwizard Tournament, or even for Potter or Ride to attend Hogwarts School.<br>Both Potter and Ride, the Prophet can reveal, regularly collapses at school. While when Potter collapses, he complains about pain coming from the scar on his forehead (left from the curse when You-Know-Who attempted to kill him), it seems that Miss Ride does not have much to complain about- she just collapses. On Monday last, halfway through a Divination lesson, this Daily Prophet reporter witnessed Potter and Ride storming out of class, after both collapsing, stating that they both felt too ill to remain in the classroom.  
>It is possible, says top experts at St. Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries, that Potter's brain had been affected by the attack from You-Know-Who when he was a baby, and also that Ride has some lasting damage too, from her time in America, where she was kept for most of her childhood being cruelly experimented on.<br>"The two of them could be pretending," said an anonymous source, "This could all be just one big plea for attention. They both get so much for a few months, then it starts to die down. They want more."  
>However, the Daily Prophet has unearthed a worrying fact about Potter, one that Headmaster of Hogwarts, Albus Dumbledore, has managed to keep very quiet.<br>"Potter's a Parselmouth," revealed Hogwarts fourth year, Draco Malfoy. "There were a lot of attacks on students a few years back, and most people thought Harry was behind it because he lost his temper at a dueling club and set a snake after another student. It was all hushed up though, of course. Him and Ride have both made friends with werewolves and giants as well. We reckon they'll do anything to get some power."  
>Parseltongue, the ability to speak to snakes, has been considered a Dark Art for years. Indeed, the most famous Parselmouth of our time was You-Know-Who himself. An Auror, who would wish to remain unnamed, stated that "anyone that can talk Parseltongue are worthy of investigation. Personally, I would be highly suspicious of anyone that could talk to snakes, as serpents are often used in the worst kinds of Dark magic, and are historically associated with evil people. Anyone foolish enough to make friends with werewolves and giants and such vicious creatures would appear to have a fondness of violence."<br>Albus Dumbledore should really consider whether or not the Potter boy is fit to compete in the Tournament, or whether him and Ride are even fit enough to be in Hogwarts with other young witches and wizards, and the other children with wings. Some fear that these children, along with Potter, will eventually turn to the Dark Arts, and that Potter might resort to Dark Magic to win the Triwizard Tournament, the third and final task of which takes place tonight.  
><strong>

"Skeeter's starting to lose her touch," I said as Harry folded up the newspaper.

Over at the Slytherin table, Malfoy, Crabbe, Goyle and Pansy Parkinson were tapping their heads, pulling mad faces (some of which actually made Pansy face look slightly better) and waggling their tongues like snakes.

"How did she find out what happened in Divination?" Nudge asked, who read the article, along with Iggy and Ron, over me and Harry's shoulders. "There's no way she could of been there, she's not allowed in the grounds, and besides someone would of seen her if she was in the classroom, I mean, how big could the room be-?"

"The window was open," Harry said. "Would of suffocated in that room if it was closed."

"You were at the top of the North Tower!" Hermione said. "Your voice couldn't have carried all the way from the open window down to the grounds!"

"Well, you're the one that's meant to be researching magical methods of bugging a place!" I said. "You tell us how she found out!"

"I've been trying," she said, "But I haven't...I haven't..."

An odd, dreamy sort of look suddenly came over Hermione's face. She ran her fingers through her hair and let out a slow breathe.

"Are you alright?" Ron asked, frowning at her.

"Yeah, fine," she said breathlessly. She ran her fingers through her hair again, then held her hand up to her mouth as if speaking to a walkie-talkie. We all stared at her.

"I've just had an idea," she said quickly. "I think...I know...because then no one would be able to see...even Moody wouldn't...she would have been able to get on the window ledge...but she isn't allowed...she most definitely isn't allowed...I think I've got her! Just give me two minutes in the library!"

Hermione grabbed her bag and raced out of the Great Hall.

"Oi!" Iggy cried after her. "We've got our History of Magic exam in fifteen minutes! Whoa," he said, facing us again, "she must really hate that Skeeter woman if she's willing to miss the start of an exam. What're you gonna do in Binn's class, read again?" he asked Harry. Because Harry didn't have to do the end of year exams, he had been sitting at the back of every class during each exam so far, reading up on new hexes and jinxes.

"S'pose so," Harry said, but just then Professor McGonagall came walking along the Gryffindor table towards us.

"Potter, the champions are meeting in the chamber off the Hall after breakfast," she said.

"But the tasks not till tonight!" Harry said, spilling his scrambled eggs down his front.

"I am aware of that, Potter," McGonagall said. "But the champions families are arriving to watch the final task. This is just a chance for you to meet them, and spend the day with them."

She started to move away, but then McGonagall turned back and said, "Oh, and Miss Ride, Professor Moody wishes to see you by the Quidditch pitch after your History of Magic exam. He needs a student to help him with the final preparations for the task."

I nodded. "Yeah, sure Professor."

She moved away, occasionally stopping to talk to other students. Harry gaped at us.

"Does she expect the Dursely's to show up?" he said blankly.

"Dunno," Ron said. "We better hurry, we're going to be late for History of Magic. See you later."

I stood up and started to head out of the Great Hall, but I stopped halfway and turned back around and faced Harry. For some reason, I just had to say something to him.

"I don't know how long Moody's going to want me to help him," I said, sitting down beside him. I motioned for the others to keep going. "I just wanted to say, er, good luck. But I'll try my best to see you before the task...Harry, I know you're going to do great in the task, you have nothing to be nervous about and-"

"Max, you're babbling," Harry laughed.

I blushed. Why was I feeling so nervous? "Er, right...sorry."

Harry frowned at me, his emerald green eyes searching mine. "Are you feeling okay? You're acting...strange."

"I'm fine, really. I just...I guess I'm just worried for you," I admitted, staring down at my hands. I looked up at him when I felt him put his hand on mine. He was grinning at me. "What?" I mumbled, embarrassed.

Harry opened his mouth as if he was going to say something, but then he closed his mouth again. "Come on," he said, grabbing my hand and dragging me out of the Great Hall.

"Wait, Harry, where are we going? I have History of Magic is like, five minutes," I said.

"I know, there's just something I want to do," Harry said, opening the door to an empty classroom.

"Harry, what-?" I started, but stopped when Harry stepped closer to me.

"Do you trust me?" he asked.

I nodded without hesitation.

"Good," he said.

Then he kissed me.

_He kissed me. _

_Oh my God. I'm kissing Harry Potter. _

After the initial shock, I started kissing Harry back, wrapping my arms around his neck, occasionally running my fingers through his untidy dark hair. He wrapped his arms around my waist, mindful of my wings, and kept kissed me.

It could have been just minutes, or it could have been years. But it didn't matter. Erasers could have been banging the door down and I wouldn't have cared. All I cared about was the feeling of Harry's soft lips against mine. I never wanted it to end.

But, you know, people have to breath.

I broke away, breathing heavily, staring into Harry's eyes. Emerald green meeting chocolate brown.

"Well...that was something," I said eventually.

Harry nodded. "Yeah, it was."

We smiled at each other.

"Oh crap!" I exclaimed a few minutes later. "The exam!"

Harry laughed, the first real laugh I've heard from him in weeks and he said, "I'll see you before the task?"

I nodded. "Definitely." I smiled at him again before leaving the room, and racing towards History of Magic, my lips still tingling, and a stupid smile on my face.

* * *

><p>I walked out of the stuffy classroom, brushing my hair out of my face. While that wasn't the most difficult exam we've had, it had definitely been the most frustrating. Maybe it was because I couldn't remember all of the goblin rebel's names, or maybe it was because I couldn't stop thinking about Harry...<p>

I smiled that stupid smile again. It was like I couldn't stop myself.

"What are you smiling at?" Ron grumbled beside me.

I blushed furiously, remembering the way Harry's arms had felt around me. "Nothing. Just glad that our tests are finally over."

"You said it," Iggy said, who was twirling in circles in front of us, smiling like a madman. "We're FINISHED!"

We all laughed at his antics. When we reached the Great Hall, I briefly looked in, and saw that Harry was sitting beside none other than Mrs Weasley and Bill. I started to walk toward the Great Hall, but Fang stopped me. "You have to meet Moody, remember?"

I sighed. I wanted nothing less than to sit right beside Harry, and talk to Bill and Mrs Weasley, but I also didn't want to keep Moody waiting. And honestly, how long could it take to set up some extra stuff?

"Yeah. I'll see you later on," I said. "Will you take my bag?" I asked. Fang nodded, and he took my bag. Checking that I had my wand, I headed out of the entrance hall and out into the grounds.

I arrived at the Quidditch pitch five minutes later. Moody was waiting for me outside.

"Bout time you showed up," he growled. "Come on. You're going to help me put the Triwizard Cup in the maze."

I nodded. "Sure, Professor."

We walked into the Quidditch pitch and my jaw dropped. The pitch was completely unrecognisable. The hedge that Harry had described had now grown to at least twenty foot high, and ran the entire way around the pitch. There was a gap right in front of us. The passage behind it looked dark and creepy. At that moment, I was not jealous of Harry.

"Are we going into the maze, sir?" I asked.

Moody nodded. "Chose you to help me because I knew you could handle it. Of course, nothing in there will try and attack us, we're not champions. We'll be going to the very centre of the maze with the Cup."

I looked around. "Where is the Cup?"

"I need to go get it over there. Didn't want to leave it where someone could get it easily. Wait here," Moody grumbled, and he limped off, taking a large swing from his hip flask.

I stood in the middle of the Quidditch pitch, waiting for Moody to come back. It was eerily quiet. I thought I kept hearing growling and screeching coming from far off in the maze.

Out of nowhere, I felt a sharp pain in the back of my head. I dropped to my knees with a loud cry of pain, my eyes screwed up tight but then I felt someone place a well placed kick to my stomach. I cried out again and dropped to my back. The last thing I saw before the blackness consumed me was Moody's face grinning up at me.

* * *

><p><em><strong>TA-DA! THEY KISSSSSSSSSSSSSED! :D <strong>_

_**Was it a good kiss scene? I'm not very good at romance :P speaking of which...HAPPY THURSDAY...I MEAN VALENTINE'S DAY! **_

_**Anyway, how was the chapter in general?I know it's shorter than normal, but this chapter was more of a filler chapter than anything :P and trust me, the next chapter is going to be looooooooooooooooooooooooooo oooooooooooooooooooooooooooo oooooong...I think ;) **_

_**this was mostly a filler chapter, but, as I'm sure you are all aware of, the next chapter is very eventful. It will be going between Max's POV and Harry's, until they go to the graveyard. **_

_**Anyway, you guys know the drill. For a faster update, you guys need to review...and if you want cookies and butterbeer, you need to...**_

_**REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW!**_

_**Love you guys :* **_

_**-Rach ;)**_


	29. The Third Task

_**AUTHORS NOTE! :P**_

_**Hey guys, how are you?**_

_**Now, here's the REAL Third Task...I realised that I wrote that in the last author note, but didn't actually write the third task... I had originally planned the last chapter different...**_

_**anyway, here's the new chapter, and it will be going between Max's POV and Harry's. **_

_**Enjoy the chapter!**_

_**I shall now answer your reviews :)**_

_**BlackSwan707: aw, thanks :)**_

_**desertforest21: haha glad you enjoyed it :)**_

_**Ravenclaw Wizard Angel: Yes, yes I do. It gives me great pleasure ;)**_

_**AnikaandAj: nah, that wasn't pushy. Thanks :D **_

_**Cookie Spasms: hahaha thanks :) glad I made you so excited about it :)**_

_**The Madrigal: I knew it was a risk putting Max and Harry together, seeing as there aren't really any other fanfictions with them together, and there are so many Fax and Hinny ones, so I'm really relieved that people are liking it :)**_

_**Trying To Put Pen to Paper: Really? Thanks :)**_

_**FayeAllerion: I definitely will, but you'll have to keep reminding me because knowing me, I'll probably forget all about it! So keep messaging me about it and I won't forget to put it in. **_

_**LoveTheBade: hope I didn't make that too obvious...**_

_**Felidae's Tale: haha I know, right?**_

_**Anyway, thanks for all the other reviews, and for adding me and the story to your favourites and alerts. You guys are the best :)**_

_**Now, on with the chapter! **_

_**Enjoy!**_

_**-Rach ;)**_

* * *

><p><strong><em>Harry's POV <em> **

I stared up at Dumbledore when he stood up in front of the Great Hall at dinner. I had spent the day with Mrs Weasley and Bill, walking around the school and grounds, pointing out what was different and what wasn't, while Mrs Weasley told us about her time in the school. Mr Weasley and Percy had to be at work, and the Gasman and Angel had to go to Ron's Aunt Muriel's ("Poor kids," Bill said when they told me where they were).

"Ladies and gentlemen," Dumbledore said, and the whole hall quieted down at once, looking up at him, "in five minutes time, I will be asking you to make your way down to the Quidditch pitch for the third and final task of the Triwizard Tournament. Will the champions please follow Mr Bagman down to the stadium now."

I sighed, and slowly stood up. Max still hadn't come back from helping Moody... I shook my head. She was probably down at the Quidditch pitch, waiting for me there.

The Gryffindors all along the table were applauding. The Weasley's, the flock, and Hermione all wished me good luck. I gave them a strained smile and headed out of the Great Hall with Cedric, Krum and Fleur.

"You alright, Harry?" Bagman asked as we walked down the stone steps into the grounds. "Feeling confident?"

"I'm okay," I said, which was mostly true. Of course I felt nervous, but I kept running through all the hexes and jinxes in my mind, and felt better when I could remember them all.

We walked onto the Quidditch field, and it was now completely unrecognisable. The hedge was now twenty-foot-high and ran all the way around the edge of it, with the entrance right in front of us.

I looked around for any sign of Max, but she wasn't there. I tried to hide my disappointment. I had really wanted to see her before the task.

Five minutes later, and the stands began to fill. I easily spotted the Weasley's, Fang, Iggy, Nudge, and Hermione. No Max.

The air was full of excited voices, and the sounds of hundreds of footsteps on the stands. The sky was a clear blue, and the stars were only starting to go out. Hagrid, Professor Moody, Professor McGonagall and Professor Flitwick came into the stadium and approached the champions. They were wearing large, red, luminous starts on their hats, except for Hagrid, who wore his on the back of his moleskin coat.

"We are going to be patrolling the outside of the maze," McGonagall told us. "If any of you should get into any difficulty, and wish to be removed from the maze, just send up red sparks with your wands, and one of us will go and get you. Do you understand?"

I nodded along with the other champions.

"Off you go then!" Bagman said brightly.

"Professor Moody, can I ask you something?" I asked quietly.

"Yes, Potter, what is it?" Moody grunted.

"Er, well I was just wondering if you knew where Max was," I said, feeling slightly awkward. "I mean, she was with you last, sir, and I was just wondering if you knew where she went when she finished helping you."

"No, boy, she didn't say where she was going. But I saw her walking to the castle, so she might be in her dormitory or something. Don't worry, Potter, she's probably just running late. Good luck, Potter." Moody said, limping off to the other patrollers.

"Yeah, right, okay. Thanks Professor," I said, still feeling slightly disappointed that Max wasn't here. What, was she just not bothered? Was she freaked out now because we kissed? Did I move too fast? I'll probably have to talk to Hermione or Nudge about it later, after the task...

"Good luck, Harry," someone whispered in my ear. I jumped and spun around, just to see Hagrid, beaming proudly at me. "Thanks, Hagrid," I grinned. He smiled at me, than walked over beside McGonagall, where all the other patrollers were placing themselves around the maze.

Bagman pointed his wand to his throat, muttered, _"Sonorus!" _and his magically magnified voice echoed across the pitch.

"Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the third and final task of the Triwizard Tournament! Let me remind you how the points stand. Tied in first place, on eighty-five points each, we have Mr. Harry Potter and Mr. Cedric Diggory, both of Hogwarts School!" The cheers and applause sent the birds flying from the Forbidden Forest. "In second place, Mr. Vikor Krum of Durmstrang Institute, on eighty points!" More applause and cheering. "And finally in third place, Miss Fleur Delacour of Beauxbatons Academy!"

I saw the Weasley's, Hermione, Fang, Iggy and Nudge clapping for Fleur. I waved at them, giving them a small grin, and they waved back, beaming. And Max still wasn't there. As if he knew what I was thinking, I saw Fang say something, and then they all started looking around the stands, and towards the entrance to the pitch. Iggy shrugged, but I still caught them looking around every few seconds. This only made me worry even more. If they didn't know where she was, then where the hell did she go? And why didn't she say anything to one of us?

"So...on my whistle, Harry and Cedric!" Bagman said. "Three- two- one-"

He gave a sharp blast on his whistle and I hurried over to the entrance of the maze, Cedric right beside me.

The towering hedges cast a dark shadow across the long paths and whether they were too tall or too thick, or because they had been enchanted, but the sound of the crowd silenced as soon as we entered the maze. I felt almost as if I was underwater again. I pulled out my wand and said_, "Lumos," _and I heard Cedric do the same behind me.

After about fifty feet, we approached a fork in the path. We looked at each other.

"See you later," I said, and took the left path while Cedric took the right.

I heard Bagman blow his whistle again, meaning that Krum had entered the maze. I sped up, my heart thumping madly in my chest. The path I decided to take seemed to completely deserted- so far.

I tried to keep my mind off Max, but the further into the maze I went, the more I was thinking about her, her laugh, her smile, her snarky attitude, the feel of her lips against mine...

I shook my head. I couldn't think about that right now. I had to stay focused on the task, on remembering the hexes and jinxes.

I turned right, and hurried forward, holding my wand high, trying to see as far in front of me as I could. But there was still nothing in sight.

Bagman's whistle blew for the third time. All of the champions were in the maze.

I kept looking behind me over my shoulder. I couldn't shake the feeling that I was being watched. The maze was growing darker and darker with every step that I took. I reached a second fork in the path.

"Point me," I whispered to my wand, laying it flat on my palm.

The wand spun around once and pointed to my right, straight into a solid hedge. So I needed to go northwest to be in the center of the maze. So I decided to take the left path and go right as soon as possible.

The path ahead was completely empty as well. When I reached a right turn, I took it, and again found the path unblocked. The lack of obstacles was starting to unnerving me. I felt as if the maze was luring me into a sense of false security. Surely I had to of met something by now. Then I heard movement behind me. I held out my wand, ready to attack, but the beam landed on Cedric, who had just hurried out of a path on the right-hand side. Cedric looked sweaty, dirty and shaken. The sleeve of his robes were smoking.

"Hagrid's Blast-Ended Skrewts!" Cedric hissed. "They're enormous- I only just got away!"

He shook his head and dived out of sight, along another path. Keen to get as far away from the Skrewts as possible, I hurried off again down the path opposite the one Cedric took. I turned a corner, and saw...a dementor gliding toward me. Twelve feet tall, it's face hidden by it's dark hood and it's rotting, scabbed hands reaching out towards me, it advanced slowly, sensing it's way blindly towards me. I could hear it's rattling breath; I felt clammy coldness washing over me, but now I knew what to do...

I summoned the happiest thought I could, concentrated with all my might on how it felt to have Max so close to me, to feel her lips on mine, on how it would feel to get out of this maze and to celebrate with my friends, and I raised my wand and cried, _"Expecto Patronum!" _

A silver stag erupted from the end of my wand and galloped toward the dementor, which fell back and stumbled over the hem of his robes...I had never seen a dementor trip over anything before.

"Hang on!" I shouted. "You're a boggart! _Riddikulus!" _

There was a loud crack, and the boggart exploded in a wisp of smoke. My Patronus faded from sight. I wish it could have stayed, I could have used some company, but I moved on quickly, listening hard, wand held high again.

After meeting two dead ends, and having to turn back four times, I saw an odd golden mist floating in front of me.

I approached it cautiously, pointing my wand beam at it. It looked like some sort of enchantment.

_"Reducio!" _I cried, hoping to just blast it out of the way, but the curse just went straight through the mist. I wondered whether I should just walk through the mist. Was it worth chancing, or should I just double back.

I was still hesitating when a scream split through the air.

"Fleur?" I yelled.

There was silence. I stared around me, but there was no movement. What had happened to her? It sounded as if her scream had come from somewhere ahead. I took a deep breath and ran straight into the strange mist.

The world turned upside down. I was hanging from the ground, my hair on end, my glasses dangling off the edge of my nose. It felt as if my feet were glued to the grass, which had now become the ceiling. Below me, the dark, star-spangled sky seemed to stretch endlessly. I felt like if I tried to move one of my feet, I would fall away from the earth completely.

_Come on, think!_ I thought to myself as the blood started rushing to my head. _Think! _

I could hear the blood pumping in my head. I had two choices- try and move, or send up red sparks, and get rescued and taken out of the task.

I shut my eyes so I wouldn't have to see the endless sky around me, and pulled my right foot as hard as I could from the grassy ceiling.

Immediately, the world righted itself. I fell forward onto my knees onto the wonderfully solid ground, feeling temporarily limp with shock. I took a deep, steadying breath, then got back up and hurried forward, not looking back.

I paused at the junction that led to two paths and looked around for some sign of Fleur. I was sure that it had been her that screamed. There had been no red sparks- did that mean that she had gotten herself out of trouble, or that she wasn't able to get to her wand? I took the path to the right, feeling more and more nervous and shaky.

The cup had to be somewhere close by, and it sounded as though Fleur was no longer in the running...I'd gotten this far, right? And for the first time since I became champion, I saw the image of myself, holding up the Triwizard Cup in front of the school...

For the next ten minutes, I met nothing but dead ends. I took the same wrong turn twice. Finally, I found a new route and started to jog along it, my wandlight waving, making the shadow flicker and distort against the hedges. Then I rounded another corner and came face to face with a Skrewt.

Cedric had been right- this thing was freaking massive. Ten feet long, it looked more like a giant scorpion than anything else. It's long sting curled right over it's back, and it's thick armour glinted in the light from my wand.

_"Stupefy!" _

The spell hit the skrewts armour and rebounded. I ducked just in time, but I could still smell burning hair- it had singed the top of my head. The skrewt issued a blast of fire from it's end and it flew towards me.

_"Impedimenta!" _I yelled. The spell again hit the skrewts armour and bounced back. I staggered pace a few paces and fell flat on my back. _"IMPEDIMENT!" _

The skrewt was inches from my face when it froze. I had managed to hit it on it's fleshy, shell-less underside. Panting and gasping, I pushed myself away from it and pulled myself to my feet and ran, fast and hard into the opposite direction.

I ran along a new path for a few minutes, then I heard something in the path running parallel to my own that made me stop dead.

"What are you doing?" Cedric's voice yelled. "What the hell do you bloody think you're doing?"

Then I head Krum's voice.

_"Crucio!" _

The air was suddenly filled with Cedric's agonised yells. I began sprinting up my own path, trying to find a way to Cedric's. When I couldn't find one, I tried the Reductor Curse again. It wasn't very effective, but it left a small enough hole that I was able to kick the branches and thick brambles until the broke and made a big enough opening; I struggled through it, tearing my robes and scratching at my skin. I looked to the my right and saw Cedric twitching and jerking on the ground, his jaw clenched tight so he wouldn't scream, with Krum standing over him.

I pulled myself up and pointed my wand at Krum, just as he started to look up. Krum turned and tried to run.

_"Stupefy!" _I shouted.

The spell hit Krum straight in the back. He stopped dead, fell forward, and lay motionless, facedown in the grass. I ran over to Cedric, who was gasping and wincing on the ground, and he was covering his face with his hands.

"Are you okay?" I asked, grabbing onto his arm and helping him to his feet.

"Yeah," he panted. "Yeah...I don't believe it...he crept up on me...I heard him and turned around, and he had his wand on me..."

Cedric was still shaking terribly and he was very pale.

"I can't believe it," I said. "I thought he was alright."

"So did I," Cedric said.

"Did you hear Fleur scream earlier?" I asked.

"Yeah," Cedric said. "You don't reckon Krum got her too?"

"I don't know," I said. "Maybe."

"Should we just leave him here?" Cedric said, staring at Krum's motionless form.

"As much as I'd love to," I said, "we can't. We should send up red sparks, someone will get him. Otherwise a skrewt would probably eat him."

"He'd deserve it," Cedric said bitterly, but all the same he raised his wand and sent red sparks into the air, which hovered high above us.

"Well I suppose we should probably go on..." Cedric said after a moments silence.

"What?" I said. "Oh, right. Yeah."

The two of us proceeded up the path, not speaking, then I turned right and Cedric turned left. Soon, Cedric's footsteps died away. I moved on, still using the Point-Me spell, making sure I was moving in the right direction. It was between me and Cedric now, and my desire to reach the cup first was getting stronger and stronger.

I still couldn't believe what I just saw. Surely, Krum didn't want the cup that bad. Just like Moody told us, the use of any of those spells could land you in Azkaban.

Every so often, I'd hit a dead end, but the ever increasing darkness made me start to believe that I was getting closer to the center of the maze. Then, as I walked quickly down a long, straight path, I thought I saw movement ahead, and my beam of light landed on a creature that I had only seen in pictures in my Monster Book of Monsters.

It was a sphinx. It had the body of a large lion: great clawed paws and a long yellowish tail. It's head, however, was that of a woman. She turned her large, almond shaped eyes on me as I approached. I raised my wand. She was pacing from side to side along the path, blocking the way past. Then she spoke in a deep, hoarse voice.

"You are very near your goal. The quickest way is past me."

Knowing it was useless, I asked, "So...will you move please?"

"No," she said, continuing to pace. "Not unless you answer my riddle. Answer on your first guess- I let you pass. Answer incorrectly- I attack. Remain silent and I let you walk away from here unscratched."

My stomach dropped. It was Hermione and Fang that were good at this sort of thing, not me.

"Okay," I said, "Can I hear the riddle?"

The sphinx sat down on her hind legs and recited:

"First think of the person who lives in disguise,  
>Who deals in secrets and tells naught but lies.<br>Next, tell me what's always the last thing to mend,  
>The middle of middle and end of the end?<br>And finally give me the sound often heard  
>During the search for a hard-to-find word.<br>Now string them together, and answer me this,  
>Which creature would you be unwilling to kiss?"<p>

I stared at her.

"Er- Can I hear it again, more slowly?" I asked timidly. She blinked at me, smiled and repeated the riddle.

I thought about it. "All of the clues add up to a creature I wouldn't want to kiss?" I asked. She merely smiled, so I took that a yes. There were plenty of creatures I wouldn't want to kiss...

"A person in disguise," I muttered, "who lies...er...that'd be an imposter...No, that's not my guess! A- a spy? I'll come back to that one...could you give me the next clue again, please?"

She repeated the next few lines of the riddle.

"Er...no idea," I said. "Middle of middle'... could I have the last bit again?"

She gave me the last four lines.

"Er...that'd be...er...hang on- `er' is a sound!" I said, snapping my fingers.

She smiled at me.

"Spy...er...spy...er," I said, pacing up and down. "A creature I wouldn't want to kiss...a spider!"

The sphinx smiled even more broadly and stood up and moved out of the way of the path to let me pass.

"Thanks!" I said, and amazed at my own brilliance, I dashed forward.

I had to be close now...I had to be...as long as I didn't meet anything too bad, I might have a chance...

I broke into a run. There was a choice of paths ahead. "Point Me!" I whispered to my wand, and it spun around and told me to take the right-handed path. I dashed down this path and saw light ahead.

The Triwizard Cup was gleaming on a plinth a hundred feet away. Suddenly, a figure burst out onto the path in front of me.

Cedric was going to get there first. He was sprinting as fast as he could to the cup, and I knew I was never going to catch up-

Then I saw something immense over the hedge to my left, moving quickly along the path; it was moving so fast that Cedric was going to run right into it, and Cedric, who's eyes were glued to the cup, hadn't seen it.

"Cedric!" I yelled, "on your left!"

Cedric looked around just in time to hurl himself past the thing and he avoided colliding with it, but he tripped. I saw Cedric's wand fly from his hand as a gigantic spider stepped into the path and began to bear itself down on Cedric.

_"Stupefy!" _I yelled, but the spell hit the spiders gigantic black body, and for all the good it did, I might as well have thrown a marshmallow at it- but then the spider turned around and started running towards me instead.

_"Stupefy! Impedimenta! Stupefy!"_

But none of the spells worked. The spider was either too big, or too magical, but each spell just bounced back off it. All I saw was eight shining black eyes and razor-sharp pincers before it was on me.

I cried out in surprise when I was lifted into the air. I struggled madly, trying to kick it, but I couldn't reach it. Eventually I managed to kick one of it's pincers, but the next second I felt excruciating pain shooting up my leg. I could hear Cedric trying to Stun the spider, but this spells weren't having any more effect than mine had. I raised my wand as the spider opened his pincers and shouted, _"Expelliarmus!" _

It worked- my Disarming spell made the spider drop me, but that also meant that I fell twelve feet onto my already injured leg, which crumpled under me. Without pausing to think, I pointed my wand at its underbelly and yelled, _"Stupefy!" _and the same time that Cedric did.

The two spells together did what one spell couldn't. The spider keeled over into the hedge, flattening it.

"Are you okay?" Cedric asked, running up to me. "Did it fall on you?"

"No," I panted. "I'm okay, I guess." I looked down at my leg. It was bleeding freely and stung terribly. I could see some sort of thick, grey, gluey secretion from the spiders pincers on my torn robes. I tried to stand up, but my leg just couldn't support my weight. I leaned against the hedge, gasping and looked around.

Cedric was standing mere feet from the Triwizard Cup, it's bright glow reflecting across his face.

"Take it then," I panted. "Go on, take it."

But Cedric didn't move, he just turned his head slowly to look at the cup, longing all over his face. Then he turned back to me, to see me holding onto the hedge tightly to keep my balance. Cedric took a deep breath.

"You take it. You should win, really. You've saved me twice in here."

"That's not how this works, Cedric," I said, starting to feel annoyed. "The one who reaches the cup first gets the points, and you got here first. Besides, I'm not going to be winning any races on this leg."

Cedric took a few steps away from the Cup.

"No," he said, shaking his head.

"Stop being noble," I said, "Just take the damn cup. Then we can both get away from here."

"You told me about the dragons," Cedric said, stepping closer to me and away from the Cup. "I would have gone down in that first task if it wasn't for you."

"I had help with that one too," I snapped, trying to stop the bleeding in my leg with my pants. "You helped me with the egg- we're even."

"I had help with the egg in the first place," Cedric said.

"We're still even," I grunted, testing my leg timidly. It shook violently when I put weight on it- I definitely sprained it when the spider dropped me. Brilliant.

"You really should've gotten more points in the second task," Cedric said. "You got to the hostages first, and you stayed with them all to get sure they were safe. I should've done that too, but I didn't think about the other hostages."

"That's because I was the only one stupid enough to actually take that song seriously!" I said bitterly. "Just take the bloody cup!"

"No," Cedric said.

He stepped away from the spider and stood beside me. I stared at him. He was serious. Cedric was willingly walking away from the glory that Hufflepuff House haven't had in centuries.

"Go on," Cedric said. He jaw was set, and his arms were folded across his chest. He had made his decision.

"Both of us," I said suddenly, not even thinking about it.

"What?" he said.

"We'll take it at the same time. It's still a Hogwarts victory, right? We'll tie for it."

Cedric stared at me, unfolding his arms. "You- you sure?"

"Yeah," I said. "I mean, we've helped each other out, right? We're both here now. Let's just take it together."

Cedric's face split into a grin.

"You're on," he smiled. "Come on."

He grabbed my arm and helped me limp over to the cup. When we reached it, we both held a hand over one of the cups shining handles.

"On three, okay?" I said. "One...two...three-"

Me and Cedric both grasped a handle.

Suddenly, I felt a pull beneath my navel. My feet left the ground. I couldn't let go of the cup. It was pulling me through a howl of wind and colour, with Cedric at my side.

* * *

><p><strong><em>Max's POV <em>**

I groaned and tried to open my eyes, but they refused to open. They felt like lead. My head felt like it had split open, and my body felt like it had been pulled along after a car for a few hours.

I could feel something digging into my wrists and ankles. There was something warm and sticky trailing down from my forehead and dripping down off my chin.

I heard footsteps approaching me, and forced my eyes to open and I took in my surroundings. I was lying on my back, with my hands and ankles tied together with thick rope, in a dark and overgrown graveyard; the black outline of a small church was just visible to the right. A hill rose above me to the left. I could just about make out the outline of a fine large house sitting on the hillside.

I couldn't see anyone around me, and the footsteps had stopped. I started struggling against the ropes, but the only thing it achieved was deeper cuts into my wrists.

I tried to stay calm, tried not to panic, but the longer I stayed on that hard ground, the ropes seemed to get tighter and tighter.

I could barely remember what happened at the Quidditch pitch. All I could remember was seeing Moody's scared face, and then nothing. Did he bring me here? Was he some sort of Death Eater? Was he just completely insane?

_Where the freaking hell was I? _

**You are in a village called Little Hangleton, **the Voice said.

_Brilliant. That's so bloody helpful. Anything else that could actually get me out of here?_

Nothing.

Awesome.

That was when I heard the footsteps again. I turned my head, but I couldn't see anyone.

Suddenly, I felt myself being lifted into the air. I kicked out, but didn't manage to connect with anything.

"Stop fighting," a frightening familiar voice said.

"Get off me!" I shouted, kicking out again. This time, I managed to connect with something. The person holding me up grunted, but didn't let me go. "If you stop struggling, then this might go easier for you," the person said.

I moved my head around, and almost screamed. Holding me up, his expression a mixture of fear and disgust, was Peter Pettigrew.

"You!" I screamed. "You coward! You absolute coward! Let me go! LET ME GO!"

Suddenly, I saw Wormtail's hand struck out, and he punched me in the stomach. I tried to bend over, but was holding me up too tightly, so all I could do was cough and wheeze.

"What the hell do you want with me?" I coughed.

"You'll see soon enough," he said, and threw me on the ground. I rolled onto my back and struggling to keep my breathe under control. "Go to hell," I snarled.

Wormtail stared at me. "I'm already there," he said quietly.

"You betrayed Lily and James," I said. "You're the reason Harry doesn't have parents. Bet that makes you feel great about yourself."

"You're a freak with wings. You can't say anything like that to me," Wormtail said, kicking me hard in the shoulder. I gasped, biting hard down on my lip to stop myself from crying out.

"Wormtail?" a cold, high voice called out.

"Y-yes master?" Wormtail said, scurrying away out of sight.

As soon as he was out of sight, I started struggling harder than ever to get away. Something about that cold, emotionless voice made me want to get as far away from here as possible. Finally, I could feel the ropes loosening. I ignored the pain in my wrists and ankles, and pulled as hard as I could. I but my lip harder when I felt a shearing pain erupt from my wrist, and blood fell from my lip.

I twisted myself around, and something hard and sharp jabbed me in the back. My heart quickened. It felt like a stone. I twisted again and again until the stone was near my hand. I gripped it tight and started using it to cut the ropes. It didn't take long for the ropes around my wrists to cut off. Immediately, I sat up and ignoring all the pain in my shoulder and wrist, started cutting at the ropes around my ankle.

When I was completely free of the ropes, I sprang to my feet. I had no idea where Wormtail had gone, and I didn't want to wait to find out. I ran as fast as I could, but I never got far.

"Wormtail, stop her! She's escaping!"

"Stop! Stop!"

I looked over my shoulder, running faster. Wormtail was standing where I had been just moments before, holding what looked like a baby. There was no one else around them, so I guessed that the thing Wormtail was holding was the person with the high, cold voice.

"Give me my wand, Wormtail!"

"Here my Lord."

_"Crucio!" _

I fell to the ground. It felt like my entire body was on fire. Someone was sticking knives into every inch of my body. I couldn't think. I couldn't move. I didn't know who I was. I didn't know where I was. What was happening. All I knew was pain. _Pain pain pain pain pain pain pain. _

Nothing but pain.

* * *

><p><em><strong>And there it is. Sorry if it sucks : I never wrote that much in a different person's POV before, so...**_

_**I hope everyone enjoyed it :) **_

_**And sorry if it seems rushed, I wanted it to come across like everything was happening so fast for Max. **_

_**Next chapter should be a lot better, I promise :) **_

_**Remember, if you review, you get cookies and butterbeer so...**_

_**REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW!**_

_**-Rach ;) **_


	30. Flesh, Blood and Bone

_**AUTHORS NOTE :P**_

_**Hello my lovely reader :) **_

_**Sorry that this is late again, but school has been hectic :/ So much homework every night, and gaelic has started again... I'm sorry :(**_

_**Anyway, the chapter is here now, so I hope you enjoy it! **_

_**Now I shall answer some reviews...**_

_**Ravenclaw Wizard Angel: You really think so? Thanks :) Haha, yes I love it! **_

_**Arkell26: Really? That's great! I really have to read it! **_

_**MaxRyan: Yeah, that's a good idea... and then Voldemort never would have returned! :O**_

_**LoveTheBlade: Thank you :)**_

_**Random Person: Ah, thanks for clearing that up :) and thanks for saying it didn't suck :)**_

_**DogsAreAwesome: Yeah, I know :/ Sorry about that by the way, but I'm working on it! And there will be tons of Max/Sirius bonding in Year 5, and the end of this one. And thank you very much, that means a lot to me :)**_

_**Bookluvr458: I wouldn't say it's the best...but thank you :)**_

_**PatrickNotStar: Your review actually made me laugh haha :) I love the Lion King! Best Disney movie ever! I'll try and have it done as soon as possible so don't worry! **_

_**LeoDaLion: I'll try and have this chapter finished soon, I promise! :)**_

_**hpfan: thanks, that really was helpful :)**_

_**Guest: All shall be revealed shorty...**_

_**ButterbeerWitch: Yup, I'll be doing all 7 :) of course I have a Pottermore account! My name is HallowSpirit154 so add me!**_

_**Now, on with the chapter! :D**_

_**Enjoy!**_

_**-Rach ;)**_

* * *

><p><em><strong>Max's POV <strong>_

"Max? Max? Come on, Max, wake up!"

I groaned, pain shooting through even inch of my body. I managed to flutter my eyelids open and I found myself staring into Harry's emerald green eyes. They softened when I looked at him.

"Are you okay?" he asked, putting a hard around my waist and gently lifting me up. I hissed and grited my teeth as pain rain through my body. They must of kept the Cruciatus Curse on me even after I passed out...

"Max? Hello?"

"Sorry, what were you saying?" I muttered, my voice sounding weak and strained.

"What are you doing here? What happened?"

I frowned, trying to remember...But everything before I woke up in the grave yard was a blank.

"I can't remember," I said. I looked up and found Cedric standing beside Harry, and the Triwizard Cup down by their feet. They were both sweaty, covered in dirt, and there were patches of blood here and there on their bodies and robes. Harry was putting more weight on his left leg.

"Where are we anyway?" Cedric asked, looking at me.

"No idea. But Harry, listen-" I started, but Cedric interrupted me.

"Did anyone tell you the cup was a Portkey?" he said, addressing Harry.

"Nope," Harry said, looking around the silent graveyard. "Is this meant to be part of the task?"

"Doubt it," I growled. "If it was, why would I be here, with Wormtail and-"

"_Wormtail? _Wormtail's here? Are you sure?" Harry snapped.

"Yeah, he only tortured me for a few hours. I'm pretty sure it's him," I snarled. Harry stared at me in shock, before looking me over again. He seemed to notice each and every visible injury this time, every cut and bruise, and my alarmingly swollen wrist.

"Is anyone else with him?" Cedric asked as he and Harry pulled their wands from their robes. I reached to get mine, but realised that Wormtail probably had it. Jerk.

But before I could answer, I heard footsteps coming between the graves. "Someone's coming," I whispered.

**Get out of there, Max. Now. **The Voice ordered, actually sounding concerned.

But instead of listening to the Voice, I stayed and clumsily climbed to my feet. I stared at the approaching figure, more than likely Wormtail, and by the way he was walking, I could tell that he was carrying something in his arms. As Womrtail got closer, I was able to see that the thing he was holding seemed to be a...baby? What the hell?

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Harry and Cedric share a glance, then they started to lower their wands, and turned to watch Wormtail as he came to a stop beside the towering headstone I had been beside.

I was trying to signal to Harry or Cedric without speaking to get their wands ready again, but they weren't paying attention to me. For a minute, me, Harry and Cedric, and Wormtail simply stared at each other.

Then, without warning, Harry let out a small cry of pain. He dropped his wand, and fell to his knees with his hands covering his face.

I moved quickly and dropped beside Harry, and ignoring the pain in my body, I grabbed his hand. I stared from Harry to Wormtail, then heard the same cold voice from before say, "Kill the spare."

It was as if someone someone clicked a remote and everything turned into slow-motion. I watched as Wormtail raised his wand, and pointed it at Cedric.

_"AVADA KEDAVRA!"_

"CEDRIC!"

A blast of green light flew through the air, and it hit Cedric straight in the chest. He didn't even have time to scream. He just dropped to the ground. Dead.

I turned away from Cedric's unseeing face, squeezing Harry's hand as tight as possible, trying to get the image of Cedric's blank, open grey eyes staring at nothing out of my mind.

Beside me, Harry started retching. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, Harry opened his eyes and saw Cedric. For a few moments. Harry just stared at him, frowning as if he wasn't sure what had just happened. Before either of us could say anything, or feel anything other than numb disbelief, I felt myself being pulled to my feet.

Wormtail had put down the bundle, lit his wand, and started dragging me towards the large marble headstone, before slamming me into the one beside it. _  
><em>

Wormtail waved his wand, and thick ropes were suddenly wrapped around me, tying me to the headstone. Wormtail disappeared again, and I pulled against the ropes, but stopped when it pulled against my injured wrist. A moment later, Wormtail came back, dragging a struggling Harry behind him. Wormtail then slammed Harry against the headstone beside me, but not before I saw the name written on it.

_Tom Riddle. _

"What do you want?" Harry snarled.

But Wormtail, who had finished tying Harry to the headstone, didn't reply. He was too busy checking the tightness of the ropes, his fingers trembling uncontrollably. When he was satisfied that Harry wouldn't be able to move an inch, he pulled out two lengths of dark materials and approached me. He stuffed the material into my mouth, then did the same with Harry, and without a word, he turned around and hurried off.

I wasn't able to make any noise, and didn't have enough energy to struggle. My wrist was throbbing painfully, and my throat felt like sandpaper.

I couldn't turn my head to look at Harry, nor to look behind me to see where Wormtail had gone.

Cedric's body was lying about twenty feet away, and twinkling a few feet behind him was the Triwizard Cup. I could just about make out Harry's wand lying at Cedric's feet. The little bundle of robes that I thought was a baby was lying close to Cedric, leaning against a headstone. It seemed to be stirring, as if it had just woken up. As I watched it, I heard Harry grunting in pain as much as he could with the gag in his mouth.

I didn't want to know what was in those robes...I didn't want those robes opened...

I could hear noises at my feet. I looked down as much as I could and saw a gigantic snake slithering past me and Harry. I shut my eyes closed and tried to get the snake out of my mind. I hate, _hate, _snakes. And the whole fiasco with the Basilisk never helped that...

Wormtail's fast, wheezy, breathing was growing louder again. I sounded like he was dragging something heavy across the ground. When he came back into our line of sight, I saw that he was dragging a large, stone cauldron closer to us. It seemed to be full of water- I could hear it slopping around...it was larger than any cauldron I had ever used; large enough for a full-grown man to sit comfortably in.

The thing inside the cauldron was stirring more persistently, as if it was trying to free itself. Wormtail was bent down at the bottom of the cauldron, waving his wand. Suddenly, there were crackling flames underneath it. I saw the snake slither away in the darkness.

The liquid in the cauldron started to heat up very fast. The surface began not only to bubble, but started sending red sparks up into the air, as if it was on fire. Steam was thickening, blurring Wormtail's silhouette as he tended to the flames. The movements beneath the robes became more agitated, and I heard the high, cold voice again.

"Hurry!"

The whole surface of the water was alight with sparks now- it looked like it was encrusted with diamonds.

"It's ready, Master."

"Now..." said the cold voice.

Wormtail pulled open the robes, revealing what was inside them. My eyes widened and my heart started thumping painfully against my chest. Beside me, Harry let out a strangled yell that was muffled by the gag.

I would never be able to describe it properly. Nothing should ever look like that. It was like he had flipped over a stone and revealed something ugly, slimy and blind- but a million times worse. The thing that Wormtail had been carrying had the same crouched shape of a small child, but I had never seen anything less like a child. It was completely hairless, and scaly-looking, it's skin a dark, raw, reddish black. It's arms and legs were skinny and feeble, and it's face- no child ever had a face like that- was as white as a sheet, flat and snakelike, with red, gleaming eyes.

The thing seemed completely helpless; it raised it's thin arms and put them around Wormtail's fat neck, and Wormtail lifted it. As he did, Wormtail's hood fell back and I could see the look of revulsion on his weak, pale face as he carried the thing to the cauldron...then Wormtail lowered the creature into the cauldron; there was a loud hiss and it disappeared completely into the cauldron; I heard it's frail body with the bottom with a thud.

_Please let it drown...please let it drown...please let it drown... _

**You know as well I do, Maximum, that that won't happen **The Voice said, interrupting my mantra.

_Well then, why don't you do something useful and tell me how to get us out of here! _

**I can't. This has to happen. **

_What has to happen? What_ is_ happening? _

**You'll see soon enough. Just keep your head clear and you and Harry will be fine. **

_What the hell does that mean?!_

No answer. Awesome.

Wormtail's squeaky voice broke off my train of thought. His voice was shaking; he seemed so scared that I thought he might wet himself. He took a breath, raised his wand, and spoke to the night.

"Bone of the father, unknowingly given, you will renew your son!"

The surface of the grave at Harry's feet started to shake and crack. I watched as a fine trickle of dust rose into the air and floated over to Wormtail, and fell softly into the cauldron. The surface of the water broke and hissed, and sent sparks in every direction. It then turned a vivid, poisonous-looking blue.

Now, Wormtail began to whimper. He pulled a long, sharp, shining silver dagger from inside his cloak. His voice broke into petrified sobs.

"Flesh-of the servant- willingly given- you will revive your master."

He stretched out his right hand in front of him- the hand that was missing a finger. He gripped the dagger tightly in his left hand, and swung it upward.

Realising what he was about to a split second before it happened, I shut my eyes as tightly as I could, but I wasn't able to block out the sound of Wormtail's agonised scream that split through the night. I heard something heavy fall to the ground, and Wormtail's pained gasps, then a sickening splash, as something was dropped into the cauldron. I couldn't bring myself to look, but I was able to see the bright red colour that the potion had turned through my closed eyelids.

Wormtail was gasping and whimpering in pain, and it wasn't until I felt his hot breath on my face that I realised that he was right in front of me and Harry.

"Blood...from enemies...forcibly taken...you will...resurrect your...foe..."

I couldn't do anything to stop it. I was tied too tightly to the headstone. I felt Wormtail cut through the sleeve of my t-shirt. I opened my eyes in time to see Wormtail placing the dagger, that was coated in his drying blood, at the crook of my elbow. He dragged it down to my wrist, and I hissed loudly (though it was muffled by the gag) at the sudden pain that flared up my arm. Blood started seeping down from my arm onto my skirt and my t-shirt.

He then moved over to Harry and did the same thing to him. He then fumbled with his pockets until he pulled out a small glass phial. He held it to my cut, and when a few drops of my blood had been collected in it, he moved back to Harry and collected a few drops of his blood.

Wormtail staggered back to the cauldron with our blood, and poured it inside. The liquid instantly turned a blinding white. Wormtail, his job done, fell to his knees beside the cauldron, then slumped sideways, cradling the bleeding stump of his arm, gasping and sobbing uncontrollably.

The cauldron was shimmering, sending sparks in all directions. I could feel the heat from it. It was so blindingly white that it turned everything else to complete darkness. For a few minutes, nothing happened...

_Please let it have drowned...please let it have drowned..._

I turned my head as much as possible to see Harry, and saw him doing the same. We looked each other in the eyes, and in that one look, we had said all we wanted to say.

_I wish we had more time together. _

_We're not going to die tonight. We'll have plenty of time together. _

Then, suddenly, the sparks coming from the cauldron were extinguished. A cloud of white steam billowed from the cauldron, obliterating everything around me, so I couldn't see Harry, or Cedric, or Wormtail...

_It's gone wrong, _I thought to myself. _It hasn't worked. It's drowned. Please...please let it have drowned... _

All of the smoke and heat reminded me of when the School went on fire when I was seven. We had barely got out alive- not that the Whitecoats cared. They never said, but the flock were pretty convinced they started that fire on purpose, to see what we'd do. Nudge still has burn marks on her back and shoulders.

I was brought out of my musings when I saw, with an icy surge of terror, the outline of a tall, thin man rising slowly from the cauldron.

"Robe me," said the high, cold voice from behind the steam and smoke, and Wormtail, still sobbing and gasping, scrambled to pick up the black robes on the ground by the cauldron. He got to his feet, reached up, and pulled them one handed, over his masters head.

The thin man stepped out of the cover of the steam and stared at me and Harry...and we stared back at the man that has haunted the nightmares of hundres of wizards. Whiter than a sheet, with wide, livid scarlet eyes, and a nose that was flat as a snakes with slits for nostrils...

Lord Voldemort had risen again.

* * *

><p><em><strong>And here it is. Ol' Voldy has come back. <strong>_

_**Sorry this may seem rushed, and sorry for the delay, but school has been hectic (we've gotten the dates for our music practicals, and we've been practising for that a lot...though I still refuse to sing in front of people other than my friend, whose playing the piano while I sing) and the teachers have been piling us with homework bigger than Mt. Everest...and I have a throat infection, that's slowly starting to become a chest infection! **_

_**But, hey, I got a chapter up, right? **_

_**Anyway, this chapter was short, so the next one will be longer :) **_

_**OMG HAVE YOU WATCHED A VERY SENIOR YEAR?! :O ahhhhhhhhhhhhh!**_

_***fangirling moment over* **_

_**OH! I've been meaning to ask...**_

_**How many of you watch Supernatural? Started watching it again, and I love it! Completely obsessed...**_

_**Anyway, you guys know the drill by now, but I'm gonna remind you anyway...**_

_**If you want cookies and Butterbeer, you have to...**_

_**REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW!**_

_**The Unicorns are hungry, and they only eat reviews. **_

_**LOVE YOU GUYS! **_

_**(as you can tell, I'm really hyper right now. Too much sugar :D) **_

_**REVIEW!**_

_**-Rach ;)**_


	31. The Death Eaters

_**AUTHORS NOTE! :P**_

_**Hello my minions :)**_

_**I owe you all a massive apology. I'm really sorry this took forever. I've just been dealing with stuff, and then studying and everything else and aaagghhh...**_

_**Anyway, I'm really sorry.**_

_**WE HAVE OVER 400 REVIEWS! :D :O YOU GUYS ARE FREAKING AMAZING! BUTTERBEER AND COOKIES TO EVERYONE, EVEN THE PEOPLE WHO DIDN'T REVIEW! **_

_**I can't believe how many reviews my stories are getting. I never thought they would be this big, with such amazing readers. I mean, every review I get makes me smile, and some make me laugh, and I can't believe how much of a better writer I am. And I couldn't have done it without you guys. You're simply all amazing. **_

_**Thank you. **_

_**Now, away from the chick-flick moment, and I shall answer your reviews. **_

_**Cookie Spasms: yeah, something like that will happen. Thanks, the unicorns appreciate it :) **_

_**Trying to Put Pen to Paper: You should! It's great! **_

_**Ravenclaw Wizard Angel: Yeah, I enjoy torturing you guys haha. Yeah, my Mom really likes Jensen Ackles (as do I...but I'm more of a Winchester girl than a Sam or Dean girl... I just can't choose!) Hey, is that where the angel in your name is coming from, or is it something else? **_

_**Arkell26: Your sister and cousin are amazing haha :) Did you like the episodes you watched? I'll try not to take that long :)**_

_**PatrickNotStar: Hahaha! Your reviews always make me laugh! *gasp* chocolate ice cream is always relevant! **_

_**DogsAreAwesome: Yeah, it's just a really sore throat, but the worst of it is gone now so...What? People get possessed watching Supernatural?... I have no idea where you heard that, but I've never heard that before...and I'm pretty sure I'm not possessed... :P Thanks :D **_

_**Brook hatake: Aw, really? Thanks :)**_

_**Antonia Daughter of Athena: Aw, thanks :)**_

_**Centurion Shish-kebab: haha thanks :) **_

_**Kisa tracer: Yeah, he'll be telling her that at the start of year 5. Thanks, I'm feeling better now :)**_

_**AnikaandAj; When I'm writing a chapter, I usually have the books beside me, and in some chapters I'd use the books, and in others I wouldn't. But I have read each Harry Potter and Maximum Ride book, like 8 times each... I love that song! Me and friend are always singing it!**_

_**Random Person: No problem. I try to respond to each review, especially if there's a question. And I do believe the song you are thinking of there is Harry Freaking Potter. I love Potter Puppet Pals! I haven't watched them in ages though! Yeah, they're my favourite too! I love the one with Snape's diary..." I asked her to dance...she asked me to die..."..." My mom was awesome!" **_

_**Bethzilla: No, I don't have a Deviant Art account, I was on my cousins one day and it really confused me. But I could message you my email address if you want? I'd love to see some fan art of this! And seeing as I actually can't draw a straight line... And you have my permission to draw whatever you want and put it wherever you want! **_

_**SkyGirl68: oh hi! thanks! :)**_

_**FlyingTiger99: Expect much, much more :)**_

_**Thanks to everyone else that reviewed, and favourited and followed and all that jazz. **_

_**Now, on with the chapter! **_

_**Enjoy!**_

_**-Rach ;)**_

* * *

><p><em><strong>Max's POV <strong>_

Voldemort looked away from me and Harry and began examining his own body. His hands we like large, pale spiders; his long white fingers caressed his own chest, his arms, his face; the red eyes, whose pupils were like slits, like a snakes, gleamed brightly in the darkness of the graveyard. He held up his hands, and flexed his fingers. He didn't take any notice of Wormtail, who was on the ground by his feet, twitching, bleeding and moaning, nor of the great snake, which had slithered back and was circling around me and Harry again, hissing. Voldemort slipped on of his unnaturally long fingers into the pocket of his robes and pulled out a wand. He caressed it gently, then pointed it at Wormtail, who was lifted into air and thrown against the headstone where Harry was tied. He lay crumpled at the bottom, sobbing and cradling his stump of an arm. Voldemort turned his scarlet eyes on us, laughing a high, cold, mirthless laugh.

Wormtail's robes were shining with blood; he had wrapped the stump of his arm in them.

"My Lord..." he chocked, "my Lord...your promised...you did promise..."

"Hold out your arm," Voldemort said lazily.

"Oh, thank you, Master...thank you..."

He extended the bleeding stump, but Voldemort laughed again.

"The other arm, Wormtail."

"Master, please...please..."

Voldemort bent down and grabbed Wormtail's left arm; he forced Wormtail's sleeve up past his elbow, and I saw something on the skin there, something like a vivid tattoo- a skull with a snake coming from it's mouth- the Dark Mark. Voldemort examined it closely, ignoring Wormtail's uncontrollable weeping.

"It is back," he said softly, "they will have noticed it by now...and now, we shall see...now we shall know..."

He pressed his long white forefinger to the tattoo on Wormtail's arm.

Beside me, Harry hissed in pain, and Wormtail let out a loud howl; Voldemort removed his fingers from Wormtail's mark and I saw that it had turned jet black.

A cruel look of satisfaction crossed Voldemort's face as he straightened up, threw back his head, and stared around the dark graveyard.

"How many will be brave enough to return when they feel it?" he whispered, his gleaming eyes staring up at the stars. "And how many will be foolish enough to stay away?"

He began to pace up and down before me, Harry and Wormtail, his gaze sweeping the graveyard. After a minute or so, he looked down at me and Harry again, a cruel smile twisting his snakelike face. He changed his gaze to look at Harry.

"You stand, Harry Potter, on the bones of my father," he hissed softly. "A Muggle and a fool...very much like your mother," he said, then turned to stare at me, "and your's, Maximum Ride. But they all had their uses, did they not? Both your mothers died trying to protect you as children...and I killed my father, and see how useful he has proved himself in death..."

Voldemort laughed again. Up and down he paced, looking all around him as he walked, and the snake continued to circle in the grass.

"You see that house upon the hillside? My father lived there. My mother, a witch who lived in the village, fell in love with him. But he abandoned her when she told him what she was...He didn't like magic, my father...

"He left her and returned to his Muggle parents before I was born. My mother died giving birth to me, leaving me to be raised in a Muggle orphanage...but I vowed to find him...I revenged myself upon him, that fool who gave me his name...Tom Riddle..."

Still he paced, his red eyes darting from grave to grave.

"Listen to me, reliving family history..." he said quietly, "why, I fear myself becoming quite sentimental...But look, Harry, Max! My true family arrives..."

The air was suddenly full of swishing cloaks. Between the graves, behind the trees, in every shadowy space, wizards we Apparating. All of them were hooded and masked. One by one, they started moving forward slowly...cautiously, as though he could hardly believe what they were seeing. Then one of the Death Eaters fell to his knees, crawled towards Voldemort and kissed the hem of his robes.

_Yuch. _

"Master...master..." he murmured.

The Death Eaters behind him did the same; each of them approaching Voldemort on his knees and kissing his robes (_like seriously? Ever heard of hygiene? The dudes been walking around for nearly thirty minutes!) _before standing up and forming a silent circle, which enclosed Tom Riddle's grave, me, Harry and Voldemort and the twitching heap that was Wormtail. Yet they left gaps in the circle, as though they were waiting for more people. Voldemort, however, didn't seem to be expecting any more.

"Welcome, Death Eaters," Voldemort said quietly. "Thirteen years...thirteen years since we last met. Yet you answer my calls as though it was yesterday, we are still united under the Dark Mark, then! Or are we?"

He put back his terrible face and sniffed, his slit-like nostrils widening.

"I smell guilt," he said. "There is a stench of guilt in the air."

A shiver ran through the circle, as if each member of it longed, but did not dare to take a step back from him.

"I see all of you, whole and healthy, with your magic intact- such prompt appearances! And I can't help but ask myself- why did none of these wizards ever come to the aid of their master, to whom they swore their eternal loyalty?"

No one spoke. No one moved except for Wormtail, who was still sobbing over his arm.

"And then I ask myself, how could they never expect my return? How could they never believe that I would once again rise to power? They, who knew the steps I took, so long ago, to protect myself against mortal death?

"And I answer myself, perhaps they believed a still greater power could still exist, one that had the power to vanquish even Lord Voldemort...perhaps they now pay allegiance to another...perhaps the champion of commoners, of Muggles and Mudbloods, Albus Dumbledore?"

At the mention of Dumbledore's name, some of the Death Eaters muttered and shook their heads. Voldemort ignored them.

"It is a disappointment to me... I confess myself disappointed..."

One of the men suddenly flung themselves forward, breaking the circle. Shaking from head to foot, he collapsed at Voldemort's feet, his hands clasped together as if in prayer.

"Master!" he shrieked. "Master, please! Forgive me! Forgive us all!"

Voldemort began to laugh. I flinched at the sound. I will never get the sound of him laughing out of my mind.

Voldemort raised his wand, and said quietly, "_Crucio!" _

The Death Eater on the ground writhed and screamed. I was sure that sound must have carried to the houses in the village...Let the police come...let someone come... Although, if no one came when I was being tortured, it was highly unlikely anyone would come now...

Voldemort flicked his wand. The Death Eater lay flat on his back, gasping.

"Get up Avery," Voldemort said softly. "Stand up. You ask for forgiveness? I do not forgive. I do not forget. Thirteen long years...I want thirteen years repayment before I forgive any of you. Wormtail has already paid some of his debt, already, have you not, Wormtail?"

He looked down at Wormtail, who continued to sob.

"You return to me not out of loyalty, but out of fear. You deserve this pain, Wormtail. You know that, don't you?"

"Yes Master," Wormtail moaned. "please, Master...please..."

"Yet you did help return me to my body," Voldemort said, watching as Wormtail continued to sob on the ground. "As worthless and as traitorous as you are, you did help me...and Lord Voldemort rewards those who help him."

Voldemort raised his wand once more and whirled it through the air. A streak of what looked like molten silver hung shining in the air. For a moment, it remained shapeless, but then it formed into an exact replica of a human hand, bright as moonlight, which soared downwards and fixed itself upon Wormtail's bleeding wrist.

Wormtail stopped sobbing immediately. His breathing harsh and ragged, he raised his head and stared in disbelief at the silver hand, now attached seamlessly to his arm. He flexed the shining fingers, then, trembling, picked up a small twig on the ground and crushed it into a fine powder.

"My Lord," he whispered. "Master...it is beautiful...thank you...thank you..."

He scrambled forward on his knees and kissed the hem of Voldemort's robes.

"May your loyalty never waver again, Wormtail," Voldemort hissed.

"No, my Lord, never..."

Voldemort turned from Wormtail, who was admiring his new powerful hand, his face still shining with tears. Voldemort now approached the man on Wormtail's right.

"Lucius, my slipperly friend," he whispered, stopping in front of him. "I have been told that you have not given up the old ways, but yet you present a respectable face to the world. You are still ready to take the lead in a spot of Muggle-torture, I believe? Yet, you never tried to find me... Your exploits at the Quidditch World Cup were amusing, I must say...But would your energies not have been better directed toward finding and aiding your old master?"

"My Lord, I was always on alert," came Lucius Malfoy's voice from beneath the hood. "Had there been any sign, any whisper of your whereabouts, I would have been at your side in an instant, nothing could have stopped me-"

"And yet you ran away from my Mark, when a faithful Death Eater sent it into the sky last summer?" Voldemort said lazily, and Mr. Malfoy closed his mouth immediately. "Yes, I know all about that, Lucius... You have disappointed me... I expect far more faithful service from you in the future."

"Of course, My Lord...of course... You are merciful, thank you."

Voldemort nodded his head, and moved on, staring at a space between the Death Eaters that was big enough for two people.

"The Lestranges should be here," Voldemort said quietly, almost to himself. "But they are both in Azkaban. They were faithful. They went to Azkaban rather than renounce me. When Azkaban is broken into, the Lestranges will be honoured beyond their wildest dreams. The dementors will join us...they are our natural allies...we shall recall the giants...I will have all my devoted servants returned to me, and an army of creatures everyone will fear."

He walked on. Some of the Death Eaters he ignored, but he'd pause in front of others and spoke to them.

"Macnair...killing dangerous creatures for the Ministry of Magic now, so Wormtail told me? You shall have better victims in future, Macnair. Lord Voldemort will provide..."

"Thank you, Master...thank you," muttered Macnair.

"And here"- Voldemort moved to stand in front of the two largest masked figures- "we have Crabbe and Goyle. You will do better this time, will you not Crabbe? And you Goyle?"

_Of course, _I thought. _The two fattest Death Eaters are the fathers of the two fattest students in Hogwarts. Makes sense. _

They both bowed clumsily, muttering quietly.

"Yes, Master..."

"We will, Master..."

"The same goes for you, Nott," Voldemort said as he walked past a stooped figure in Mr. Goyle's shadow.

"My Lord, I promise you, I am your most faithful-"

"That's enough," Voldemort said.

He reached the largest gap, and stood surveying it with his blank, red eyes as though he could see the people that should be standing there.

"And here we have six missing Death Eaters...three dead in my service. One, too cowardly to return...he will pay. One, who I think has left me forever...he will be killed, of course...and one, who still remains my most faithful servant, and who has already returned to me."

The Death Eaters shifted, looking at each other through the slits in their masks.

"He is at Hogwarts, that faithful servant, and it is through his efforts that we are joined by our young friends tonight..."

My eyes widened. _Moody. _Moody was a freaking Death Eater. Mad-Eye Moody, the best Auror there was, was a Death Eater. _What the hell? _

I started shouting against my gag, trying to tell Harry who the `faithful servant' was, but nothing understandable was coming from my mouth. Voldemort saw me struggling and grinned. It made my blood run cold.

"Yes, Harry Potter and Maximum Ride have kindly joined us for my rebirthing party. One might go as far as to call them our guests of honour."

There was silence. Then the Death Eater to the right of Voldemort stood forward, and Lucius Malfoy's voice came from behind the mask.

"My Lord, we must know...we beg you to tell us how you achieved this miracle...how you have managed to return to us..."

"Ah, and what a story it is, Lucius," Voldemort said. "It began's- and ends- with one of our young friends here."

He walked lazily over to me and Harry, and crouched down in front of us. He stared at Harry, his eyes fixed on the lightning bolt shaped scar on Harry's forehead. All eyes were on the three of us.

"You all know, of course, that they call this boy my downfall?" Voldemort said softly, now staring into Harry's eyes. Harry's face was scrunched up in pain, and if the gag wasn't there, I knew he'd be screaming in agony. I continued to struggle against the ropes. "You know that on that night, I lost everything- my powers, my body- I tried to kill him. His mother died trying to save her only son- and unknowingly providing him with the utmost protection that I admit, I failed to foresee...I could not touch the boy..."

Voldemort raised one of his long, pale fingers and held it close to Harry's cheek.

"His mother left upon him the traces of her sacrifice...This is old magic, I should have remembered, I was foolish not to think of it...but no matter. I can _touch_ him now."

Voldemort pressed his long white finger to Harry's cheek, and Harry closed his eyes and screamed into the gag. Voldemort laughed softly, and took his finger away.

"I miscalculated, my friends," he said, still addressing his Death Eaters, even though he was looking between me and Harry. "My curse was deflected by a silly woman's sacrifice, and it rebounded onto myself. Aahh...the pain was beyond pain, my friends; nothing could have prepared me for it. I was ripped from my body...no less than a spirit, less than the most common ghost...but yet, I was still alive. What I had become, even I have no name for it... I, who had gone further than anyone else to secure my immortality. You all know my goal- to defeat death. And now, I was tested and it seems that one or more of my experiments worked, for I had not been killed, though that curse should have done it. Nevertheless, I was weak and powerless as a new born infant, and without any means to help myself... I had no body, and every spell I could have used that might have helped me required a wand...

"I remember forcing myself, sleeplessly, endlessly, second by second, to simply exist... I managed to settle myself in a far off place, in a forest and all I wanted...Surely one of my Death Eaters would eventually come and find me and assist me...but I waited in vain."

A shiver ran through the group of hooded men. Voldemort stared at every one of them in the eye, letting the silence escalate horribly before continuing.

"I only had one power left to me. I had the ability to possess other bodies, even animals. But I dared not go near any place where humans were plentiful, for I knew that the Aurors were still searching for me.

"I sometimes inhabited animals- snakes, of course being my preference- but as snakes are not able to perform magic, I was nothing more than a spirit inside them. My possession of them simply shortened their lives...they all died within a few days...

"Then four years ago, the means for my return seemed assured. A young, foolish, gullible wizard, wandered across my path in the forest I made my home. He seemed the very chance I had been dreaming of...for he was a teacher at Dumbledore's school... he was easy to bend to my will. He brought me back to this country and after a while, I took possession of his body, to supervise him more closely as he carried out my orders. But my plan failed. I did not manage to steal the Philosophers Stone. I was not to be assured immortal life. I was thwarted...thwarted again by Harry Potter, but this time he had help from Miss Maximum Ride."

I glared at Voldemort when he mentioned me, but he was addressing his Death Eaters so he didn't notice.

There was silence again; the only thing moving was Nagini, and the only sound was me and Harry's breathing. The Death Eaters were motionless, their eyes fixed on Voldemort.

"The servant died when I left his body, and I was as weak as I've ever been," he continued. "I returned to my hiding place far away and I will not pretend to you now that I did not fear that I would never get my power back... Yes, that was probably my darkest hour... I could not start hoping that I would be send another wizard for me to possess... and I had given up hope that any of my Death Eaters cared about what happened to me..."

One of two of the wizards in the circle shifted uncomfortably, but Voldemort took no notice.

"And then, not even a year ago, when I had almost abandoned hope, it happened at last...a servant returned to me. Wormtail here, who had faked his own death to escape justice and framed his best friend for murder, was driven out of hiding by those he had thought were his friends, and forced to return to his master. He found me in the country where it was rumoured I was hiding...he was helped, of course, by the rats he met on his way. Wormtail has a slight fascination with rats, don't you Wormtail? His filthy little friends told him that there was a place, deep in the Albanian forest, that most animals avoided, because of a dark shadow that possessed them...

"Although, his journey back to me wasn't smooth, was it, Wormtail? For, hungry, one night, Wormtail foolishly stopped at an inn, on the edge of the forest where he had hoped to find me, for some food...and who should he bump into there, but one Bertha Jorkins, a witch from the Ministry.

"Now you may see how fate awards Lord Voldemort. That night could have been the end of Wormtail and the end of any hopes I had of regeneration. But Wormtail- displaying a presence of mind I would never have expected from him- managed to convince Bertha Jorkins to accompany him on a night time stroll. He overpowered her, and brought her to me. She could have been our downfall, but instead she proved to be a gift beyond my wildest dreams... for with a little persuasion, she gave me very important information.

"She told me that Hogwarts would be hosting the Triwizard Tournament this year. She told me that she knew of a faithful Death Eater that would be more than willing to help me, if I could contact him. She told me many things...but the means I used to break the Memory Charm upon her were powerful, and when I had extracted all of the useful information. her mind and body were damaged beyond repair. She had served her purpose. I could not possess her. I disposed of her."

Voldemort smiled his terrible smile, his red eyes blank and pitiless.

I felt like I was going to get sick.

"Wormtail's body, of course, was unsuitable for possession, as everyone assumed he was dead, and that would attract too much attention. However, he was the able bodied servant I needed, and, poor wizard though he was, Wormtail was able to follow the instructions I gave him, which would return me to a weak body of my own, a body I would be able to inhabit while waiting for the ingredients for a true rebirth... a spell or two of my own invention...a little help from my poor Nagini," Voldemort's red eyes fell upon the continually circling snake, "a potion concocted from unicorn blood and the snake venom Nagini provided... I was soon returned to an almost human form, and strong enough to travel.

"There was no hope any more in stealing the Philosophers Stone, for I knew that Dumbledore would have had it destroyed. But I was willing to face mortal life once more, before chasing immortality. I set my sights lower... I would settle for my own body back again, and my old strength.

"I knew that it would be very Dark Magic to do the potion that revived me tonight, and I also knew that I would need three powerful ingredients. Well one of them was already on hand, was it not, Wormtail? Flesh given by a servant... My father's bone, naturally, meant that we would have to come here, where he was buried. But the blood of a foe...Wormtail would have had me use any wizard out there that knew of me... any wizard that hated me, as so many out there do. But no, I knew the people I would have to use if I was rise again, more powerful that when I had fallen. I wanted Harry Potter and Maximum Ride's blood. I wanted the blood of the one who stripped me of my powers thirteen years ago... I wanted the blood of a being who was strong and could fly.

"Who how to get Harry Potter and Maximum Ride? For they, plus the other winged children, have been better protected than even they know, protected in ways devised by Dumbledore long ago. Dumbledore invoked an ancient magic for Potter, to ensure the boys protection as long as he was in his relations care. Not even I can touch him there... And there is magic surrounding the blood-traitors home, protecting the winged children. Then of course, there was the Quidditch World Cup... I thought their protection might be slightly weaker there, away from their homes and families, and from Dumbledore. But I had not been strong enough then to plan a kidnap in the midst of Ministry wizards. But then, the two of them would return to Hogwarts, where they are under the constant protection of Dumbledore from morning till night. How could I take them?

"By using Bertha Jorkins's information, and my one faithful Death Eater placed in Hogwarts to ensure that both their names were out into the Goblet of Fire. But of course, only one name could come out, so when that was Harry's name, we started planning on how to get Max. So my Death Eater made sure that Harry won the tournament, made sure that he touched the cup first in the maze, and that Max was already here before the task started. That way, the both of them could be here, out of the way of Dumbledore's protection and into my waiting arms. And here they are."

He turned around, and started walking over to the figure I think was Lucius Malfoy. Voldemort whispered in Malfoy's ear, and he nodded. The two of them walked closer to us and drew out their wands, Voldemort pointing his at Harry, and Malfoy at me.

_"Crucio!" _Voldemort said first. Harry started screaming into his gag, his body twitching against the headstone.

"Harry!" I yelled into the gag.

The I heard Lucius Malfoy's voice saying, _"Crucio!" _

For the second time that night, my body erupted into flames, and I thought my head was going to burst in two. I just wanted it to end... to pass out...to make the pain go away...

And then, just like that, it was gone. I was hanging limply against the ropes, panting and sweating, looking into those bright red eyes glowing in almost happiness. The night was full of the sound of the Death Eater's laughter. I turned my head slightly and saw that Harry was staring straight back at Voldemort.

"You see, I think, how foolish it was to think that these children could ever be stronger or more powerful than me," Voldemort said. "Harry Potter escaped me by mere chance. And as of yet I have seen no remarkable skills from Maximum Ride." At this, I raised my eyebrows and stared at him. No remarkable skills? Excuse me?

"I am now going to prove my power by killing them both here and now, in front of all of you, where there is no Dumbledore to save you. Just a little longer, Nagini," he whispered as the snake glided through the grass to where the Death Eaters stood watching.

"Now, Wormtail, untie them both, and give back their wands."

* * *

><p><em><strong>And, at long last- the new chapter. <strong>_

_**I am sooooooooo unbelievably sorry for how long this took. As I said earlier, I've been dealing with some personal issues (nothing major though, I promise) and I'm studying for my tests that start in less than a month. **_

_**If, for any reason, a chapter is going to take a long time, I will try my best to put up a separate chapter telling you all when the next chapter should be expected. **_

_**Anyway...**_

_**Sorry for how much Voldemort talks in this chapter...he does love the sound of his own voice, doesn't he? **_

_**HAVE ANY OF YOU SEEN IRON MAN 3?! **_

_**ASKGHSGERMAHKER= dead. **_

_**It was one of the best movies I've seen in a long time! **_

_**Oh, and does anyone else love Batman? I'm completely obsessed! **_

_**Now, you all know the drill- if you want cookies and butterbeer, you need to...**_

_**REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW!**_

_**LoVe YoU! **_

_**-Rach ;) **_


	32. Priori Incantatem

_**AUTHORS NOTE! :P **_

_**Well hello my very patient readers. I'm sorry this chapter took so long, but as you all know, I had the Junior Cert, and only finished a few days ago. Thanks to everyone for being so patient and understanding. You guys are amazing. **_

_**Now, this story only has a few chapters left :( But I will be getting straight into Year 5, so there won't be too long of a wait, I promise :) **_

_**Can we try and get 500 reviews by the end of this story? That would be amazing! **_

_**Now I shall answer you're reviews!**_

_**Cookie Spasms: Tests are just torture, aren't they?**_

_**Centurion Shish-Kebab: I actually never thought about that! Oh my Gosh, that's actually an amazing idea!**_

_**desertforest21: You're very welcome :)**_

_**BethZ: I really wanted to see that! Are you thinking of Wolverine? Yeah, X-Men are awesome. **_

_**AnikaandAj: I know right? Apparently, there will be 2 more Avengers movies! :O I can't wait. And Robert Downey Junior is gonna be in the next 2! Can't wait!**_

_**AquilineFeline: Well as far as I know, the name for the Supernatural fandoms is Hunters, so I have no idea where that's coming from. Thanks!**_

_**Ravenclaw Wizard Angel: I know! It was hard enough before, and then they had to go ahead and bring Castiel into it, and it made it harder to pick one!**_

_**PatrickNotStar: Should I be scared... ;) Well, here's the chapter!**_

_**almp15: Thanks. And that will be revealed more in Year 5. **_

_**ValkyrieEverdeen12: That shirt sounds amazing! And I'm guessing from your name that you're a fan of Skulduggery Pleasant? I love those books!**_

_**Patrick: Well I've never heard of that book series, but I'll definitely look into them. And that actually made me laugh so hard! I'm definitely doing that next time I prank call someone!**_

_**Artemis Snow: Sorry to say, but I really do not like Twilight. But I have actually thought of a Maximum Ride Supernatural crossover, but I have so many ideas for different stories, and I really don't want to start doing more than one at the same time, that I have no idea when I'll be able to get around to it. **_

_**Now, onwards with the story!**_

_**Enjoy!**_

_**-Rach ;)**_

* * *

><p><em><strong>Max's POV <strong>_

Wormtail approached Harry and I, and I tried backing up as much as possible into the headstone before he reached me. Wormtail went to Harry first, and pulled the gag out of Harry's mouth with his new, silver hand. Then, with a single swipe of his wand, he had cut away the ropes tying Harry to the headstone.

Wormtail never gave Harry the opportunity to run. He kept the strong, silver hand on the back of Harry's robes at all time as he removed my gag and ropes. He pulled me roughly to my feet, ignoring me when I swayed dangerously. My left wrist was painfully throbbing from when I freed myself from the ropes. Glancing down at it, I winced. It definitely looked broken.

I looked at Harry, and he smiled sadly at me and mouthed `it's going to be okay.' I smiled back, knowing that it wasn't.

The Death Eaters closed ranks, forming a tighter circle around us and Voldemort. Wormtail excited the circle and went over to where Cedric's body lay and picked up Harry's wand. He pulled my wand out of his robe pockets. He thrust them back into our hands roughly and I had to hold mine in my right hand. Wormtail then resumed his place in the circle with the Death Eaters.

"You both have been taught to duel, I presume?" Voldemort said softly.

At his words, I remembered the dueling club at Hogwarts more than two years ago... Where we had leaned the Disarming Spell, _"Expelliarmus." _But what good would that spell do now, against Voldemort and his thirty morons? We had never learned anything that could possibly prepare us for this.

When neither of us responded, Voldemort said, "First, we bow to each other," he said, bending down a little, but keeping his snakelike face upturned towards us. "Come now, the niceties must be observed...Dumbledore wouldn't want you two to forget your manners...Bow to death, Harry...Max..."

The Death Eaters were laughing again. Voldemort was grinning. I didn't bow, and neither did Harry. I was definitely not going to let Voldemort play with me before he killed me... I wasn't going to give him that satisfaction...

"I said _bow_," Voldemort said, raising his wand- and I felt like there was a massive hand pressing down on my spine, causing me to bend over into a bow. I saw the same thing happening to Harry beside me. The Death Eaters roared with laughter.

"Excellent," Voldemort said softly, and he flicked his wand and the pressure from my back was gone. I stood up as straight as I could. "Now, I don't think two on one is very fair... So I shall duel with Harry first, if you don't mind Maximum... Lucius, hold her back..."

Lucius Malfoy stepped out of the circle and grabbed my arms, pinning them behind my back. Pain flared from my wrist, but I bit down hard on my lip to stop from crying out.

Voldemort smirked and faced Harry again. "And now, Harry, you face me like a man... straight-backed and proud, just like your father when I killed him...And now, we duel."

I saw the fierce determination in Harry's emerald eyes, but I also saw the pain and the fear. The uncertainty. He didn't know what to do to get out of this one. And neither did I.

The whole world turned into slow motion when Voldemort raised his wand and hit Harry with the Cruciatus Curse before he could defend himself. I fought against Malfoy's grip as Harry dropped to the group, screaming in agony and twitching on the floor, his body going into a full out spasm. I yelled and kicked out, but Malfoy only tightened his grip.

Finally, the curse stopped. Harry rolled over and scrambled unsteadily to his feet. I noticed that he was shaking uncontrollably. Did I look like that when the curse was on me?

When Harry got to his feet, he stumbled into the wall of Death Eaters, who pushed his back towards Voldemort.

"A little break," Voldemort said, his slit-like nostrils dilating with excitement, "a little pause... That hurt, didn't it Harry? You don't want me to do that again, am I right?"

Harry didn't answer, he just stood there, shaking and panting.

"And I'm guessing you don't want me to do it to Maximum?"

Harry looked over at me at that. He looked between me and Voldemort, but still didn't say anything.

Voldemort almost smiled. He raised his wand again, this time pointed at me.

_"Crucio!" _

"NO!"

I didn't even feel myself falling to the ground. There were thousands of white hot knives piercing every part of my body. I could vaguely hear myself screaming... I thought my head was going to burst open at any minute... And then it was over. I rolled onto my stomach and pushed myself onto my knees. My head was spinning and I felt nauseous. Guess getting hit with the Cruciatus Curse this much in one night wasn't agreeing with me. I wanted nothing more than to whip out my wings and fly to safety, but there was something keeping my wings to my back. Besides, I wouldn't be able to leave Harry... and Cedric.

I pushed myself to my feet, stumbling. I looked around for Harry, and saw him being held back by two big Death Eaters. Voldemort didn't even spare me a glance. He was staring at Harry, his red eyes glistening in the darkness.

"I asked you whether you want me to do that again, and because you didn't answer, Max had to suffer. Now I want you to answer me. Answer me! _Imperio!_"

I watched, helpless, as Harry's face went blank, and the fierce light went from his eyes. But he still didn't speak. I saw the war raging behind his eyes. He was resisting the Imperius Curse again. Despite everything, I grinned.

Voldemort kept asking Harry over and over again whether he wanted to be tortured again, telling him to just say no, to just answer him, but Harry never opened his mouth. Then a look of frustration and pain swept over Harry's face and he yelled, "I WON'T!"

Harry's shout echoed around the graveyard. He looked alert again. But that didn't help out situation.

"You won't?" Voldemort said quietly. None of the Death Eaters were laughing now. I was breathing heavily, my heart hammering inside my chest. "You won't say no? Harry, obedience is something I need to teach you and Max before you die...Perhaps another dose of pain?"

Voldemort raised his wand again, but before the curse could hit him, Harry had dived to the ground and rolled behind the headstone of Voldemort's father. It cracked as the curse hit it.

"We are not going to play hide-and-seek, Harry," Voldemort said. "You cannot hide from me. Does this mean you're tired of our duel? Does this mean you'll just leave you friend to die, Harry? Come out, Harry...come out and play, and then I promise, it will be quick. It could even be painless, but I wouldn't know... I've never died..."

It was then that I realised that Malfoy never grabbed me again after the Cruciatus Curse. No one was retraining me. Slowly, I went down onto my knees and crawled behind the wall of Death Eaters. I saw Harry crouched down behind the headstone, but he didn't see me.

I crawled slowly and carefully towards him, using my left elbow instead of my hand because of my broken wrist, and thankfully the Death Eaters were paying too much attention to Voldemort to notice me crawling behind them. I crawled behind Wormtail, and saw my wand poking out of his pocket. I went down onto my elbows to I wouldn't put pressure on my wrist, and reached up with my good hand and carefully pulled my wand from his pocket. He never noticed. Idiot.

With my wand in my right hand, I continued to crawl awkwardly behind the oblivious Death Eaters. Just when I thought I had made it without being seen, the Death Eater I was crawling behind turned slightly and saw me. Crap.

**Move, Max. Get up and run. **

_Don't you think if I could run, I bloody would have? _

"Hey!" the Death Eater shouted. He turned around quickly and before I could roll out of the way, the Death Eater brought his foot back and kicked me hard in the ribs. I cried out in pain. At least two of my ribs were broken.

I tucked my wand away so the Death Eater wouldn't see it. He reached down and pulled me roughly to my feet, causing pain to flare through my whole body. The Death Eater pulled me roughly around, so that I could see what Voldemort was doing. The little colour still in my face drained. Voldemort was approaching the headstone Harry was hiding behind.

And Harry wasn't moving.

He wasn't running.

He just stayed there.

Voldemort was going to kill him.

Oh God.

But just before Voldemort could go around the headstone, Harry stood up and thrust his wand out in front of him.

Ignoring the pain, I brought my foot up and kicked the Death Eater that was holding me as hard as I could in the shin. He let me go and I raced over to Harry. Harry pushed me gently behind him and turned to face Voldemort, the two of them pointing their wands at each other.

Then, at the same time, Harry yelled, "_Expelliarmus!" _Voldemort shouted, "_Avada Kedavra!" _and I cried, "_Stupefy!" _

A jet of green light shot from Voldemort's wand, and two jet's of red light came from me and Harry's wands. The three lights met in midair, and suddenly my wand started vibrating so hard my hand shook, and my muscles seized in my arm. I couldn't have dropped the wand if I wanted to. I risked a glance at Harry, and the same thing seemed to be happening to him.

A thin light connected the three wands, neither green nor red, but a bright, deep gold.

And then a familiar feeling washed over me- my feet were leaving the ground. I was flying. But not from my wings. Me, Harry and Voldemort were all floating in the air, our wands still connected by the thread of shimmering light. We glided away from Voldemort's fathers headstone and came to a rest on a patch of ground that was clear of graves... The Death Eaters were yelling, asking Voldemort what to do; they were coming closer, reforming the circle under us, some of them drawing their wands.

The golden thread connecting the three wands splintered- though the wands remained connected, a thousand light beams arched over our heads, criss crossing all around us, until we were enclosed in a golden dome-shaped web, beyond which the Death Eaters circled around, their cries muffled now...

"Do nothing!" Voldemort shrieked to the Death Eaters. "Do nothing unless I command it!"

My head was spinning. I felt sick. I was barely able to keep my wand up. My wrist and ribs were throbbing painfully. My vision was swimming and I was finding it hard to focus on anything.

But when an unearthly and beautiful sound filled the air, all of that faded from my mind. The sound was coming from every thread of the light-spun web vibrating around me, Harry and Voldemort. It was a sound I vaguely recognised, but I didn't know what it was.

It was the sound of hope. And as the sound filled the air, it was almost as if someone was speaking in my ear...

Don't break the connection.

_I know, _I thought. _I know. I won't break the connection. _But even as I thought it, than the thing became much harder to do. My wand started vibrating more powerfully than ever...and now the beam between the wands changed too... it was as though large beads of light were sliding up and down the thread connecting the wands- I felt my wand give a shudder under my hand as the light beads began to slide slowly my way... I turned my head and shared a shocked look with Harry.

As the closest bead of light moved closer and closer towards my wand tip, the wood under my fingers grew so hot I feared that it would burst into flames. The closer the bead moved, the harder the wand vibrated- it felt like it would shatter at any minute. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw beads of light heading towards Harry and Voldemort's wands.

Then, the beads of light heading towards Harry's wand started moving back, towards Voldemort's. I noticed that Voldemort's wand started vibrating harder and harder.

_Right, _I thought, _I just have to make the beads of light move towards snake-face. How the hell am I supposed to do that?_

I concentrated with everything I had to keep that bead of light away from my wand, but my head was still spinning and I was finding it harder and harder to concentrate. Very, very slowly the beads of light quivered to a halt, and then, just as slowly, it began to move the other way- towards Voldemort's wand.

Voldemort looked astonished, almost fearful.

The bead of light from Harry's wand was now inches from Voldemort's. In the next few minutes, the one from my wand was there too, and the merged together, forming a bigger bead of light. Slowly, the bead of light moved back, and finally, it connected to Voldemort's wand.

At once, Voldemort's wand started to emit echoing screams of pain, of agony... then- Voldemort's red eyes widened in shock- a dense smoky hand flew out of the tip of it and vanished...the ghost of the hand he had made for Wormtail... more shouts of pain... and then something much larger began to emerge from Voldemort's wand, a great, greyish something, that looked like it was made of the solidest, densest smoke...it was a head...now a chest and arms... the torso of Cedric...

I almost dropped my wand from shock, but instinct kept me clutching my wand tightly, so the thread of golden light remained unbroken, even though the thick grey ghost of Cedric Diggory (was it a ghost? It just looked so solid) emerged entirely from the end of Voldemort's wand...and this shade of Cedric stood up, looked around, and spoke.

"Harry, Max, you need to hold on," it said.

Its voice was distant and echoing. I looked at Voldemort... his red eyes were still shocked...he hadn't expected this more than me and Harry did... And very dimly, I could hear the frightened yells of the Death Eaters, prowling around the edges of the golden dome... More screams of pain from the wand... and then something else emerged from from the tip of Voldemort's wand...

The dense shadow of a second head, quickly followed by arms and a torso...an old man emerged the same way Cedric had, and his ghost, or his shadow, or whatever the hell it was, fell next to Cedric's and surveyed me, Harry and Voldemort, and the golden web, and the connecting wands with mild surprise, leaning on his walking stick.

"He was a real wizard then?" the old man said, his eyes on Voldemort. "Killed me, he did. You two fight him..."

Already another head was emerging, and this head was a woman's. By now, both my arms were shaking as I fought to keep my wand still.

The shadow of Bertha Jorkins surveyed the battle in front of her.

"Don't let go, not now!" she cried, and her voice echoed like Cedric's and the old man's. "Don't let him go- don't let go!"

She and the two other shadowy figures began to pace around the inner walls of the golden web, and they whispered as they circled us, words of encouragement to me and Harry, and hissed words I couldn't hear to Voldemort.

And now another head was emerging from the tip of Voldemort's wand... and I knew who it was straight away.

The smoky shadow of a tall man with untidy dark hair fell to the ground beside Bertha, straightened up and looked at Harry. And Harry stared back into the face of his father.

"Your mother is coming," James Potter said to Harry after smiling at me, "She wants to see you... it will be all right... hold on..."

And then came Lily Potter. First her head, then her body... she was a pretty, young woman with long hair. She fell to the ground beside her husband and straightened up to look at Harry.

I looked back at Voldemort's wand in time to see someone else emerge from his wand, and I knew who it would be, knew that I'd be seeing her since I saw Cedric emerge from the wand.

The smoky shadow of a woman with long, curly dark blonde emerged from the tip of Voldemort's wand. I stared at my mother as she fell to the ground beside Harry's mum. She smiled at me as her and Lily walked closer to us. Lily spoke in the same, distant, echoing voice as the others, but quietly, so that Voldemort couldn't hear her, his face now livid with fear as his old victims prowled around him.

"When the connection is broken, we will linger for only moments, but we will give you time... you must get to the Portkey, it will return you to Hogwarts... do you understand, Harry, Max?"

"Yes," we both said at the same time, fighting to keep a hold on our wands.

"Harry... Max..." whispered the shadow of Cedric, "take my body back, will you? Take my body back to my parents."

I didn't have the strength to nod or speak. Harry said, "We will."

"Do it now," my mother said, "be ready to run...do it now!"

"NOW!" Harry yelled. I wasn't sure I would of been able to hold on any longer anyway. I pulled my wand upward, and beside me Harry did the same. The golden thread broke; the cage of light disappeared and the strange beautiful song died- but the shadowy figures of Voldemort's victims didn't vanish- they were closing in on Voldemort, shielding us from his gaze.

Harry grabbed my uninjured arm and together we ran as fast as we could, knocking two Death Eaters aside as we passed them. Harry dragged me behind headstones, and we were dodging their curses, heading towards Cedric's body. I was gasping for breath, but I was no longer aware of any pain. I was only aware of what we had to do.

"Stun them!" I heard Voldemort scream.

We were ten feet from Cedric. Harry pulled me behind a marble angel to avoid the jets of red light, and I saw the tip of its wing shatter as the spells hit it. I winced subconsciously.

Harry turned to me. "We need to distract them for a few seconds. Do you still have your wand?"

I nodded, gripping my wand in my right hand, which just felt strange. "What are you thinking of doing?"

"Run and throw spells at them," he said.

"Better than anything I have," I said.

So Harry dashed out from behind the angel, and I was right at his heels. He turned and yelled, "_Impedimenta!" _at the same time that I turned and shouted, "_Reduco!" _Harry's spell hit one of the Death Eaters and brought him down, mine hit a massive headstone and made it explode, which brought down about two more. _  
><em>

We jumped over the cup, and dived when there were more wand blasts behind us; more jets of light flew over our heads and we fell, and Harry reached down and grabbed onto my shoulder, and with his other hand he stretched up and grabbed onto Cedric's wrist.

"Stand aside! I will kill them! They're mine!" Voldemort shrieked. There was one tombstone between us and Voldemort, and there wasn't a chance that we could carry Cedric back to the cup without dying. Voldemort's red eyes flamed in the darkness. I saw his mouth curl into a cruel smile, saw him raise his wand.

_"Accio!"_ I cried, pointing my wand at the Triwizard Cup. It flew through the air and soared towards me. Harry tightened his grip on my shoulder and I caught the cup by the handle. I heard Voldemort's scream of fury at the same moment that I felt the jerk behind my naval that meant that the Portkey had worked- it was speeding us away in a whirl of wind and colour, and Cedric with us... We were going back.

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><p><em><strong>Well, here it is folks. The new chapter!<strong>_

_**Sorry if it isn't that great, I kinda rushed it so I would actually finish it and not have you people waiting for it too long. **_

_**And sorry if Max is a bit OC in this chapter. But I feel like because all the stuff that happened in The Angel Experiment didn't happen, that she's a little bit easier to freak out. **_

_**Thanks for all the reviews, and favourites, and the messages. It means a lot :) **_

_**Oh, and if any of you are on Tumblr, and you want to follow me, my URL is padfootwinchester. I'll more than likely follow you back! :)**_

_**No idea when the next chapter is gonna be up. I'm going to London (eeep!) on the 18th, and then on the 19th, going to the Warner Brother Studios :D I can't waaaaait! I'll only be in London for 4 days, so I'll get back to this as soon as possible. **_

_**As always, if you want cookies and butterbeer, you need to...**_

_**REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW! :D **_

_**Let's get this story to 500! **_

_**Love you guys, **_

_**-Rach ;)**_


	33. Veritaserum

_**AUTHOR'S NOTE! :P**_

_**Hello my lovely readers! :) **_

_**Let me tell you something- Irish people are not designed to handle heat. In Ireland at the moment, it's between 28 and 30 degrees celsius. Not fun. **_

_**Thank you to everyone who reviewed, and alerts and favourites and all that! You guys are all awesome! **_

_**Now I shall answer some reviews... **_

_**desertforest21: Kay, looking forward to it :) **_

_**Arkell26: The Junior Cert are big tests we do in Ireland (no idea if it's done in any other countries) when you're in 3rd year of secondary school, and the tests are in every subject you do on everything you've done in the last three years. That's the best explanation I can give of it. It's kinda like the O.W.L's. **_

_**Trying to Put Pen to Paper: Yeah, but remember Max's wand? It has the same phoenix feather as Harry and Voldemort? **_

_**Cookie Spasms: Yeah, I really don't like anything about Twilight :P Yup, I really like the Hunger Games :D Really? That's so cool! And is that a Skulduggery Pleasant reference I see? ;) **_

_**Winged Werewolf of the Night: Thank you very much :) and I love your name! It's awesome! **_

_**BethZ: Thanks :) Really? I'll be there on the 19th haha :) **_

_**Guest: I know! I can't freaking wait for it! Derek Landy said it's gonna be about a hundred pages bigger than Kingdom of the Wicked! **_

_** : Aww, I'm blushing :) thanks :)**_

_**NOTE: This chapter is mainly Crouch talking and talking and talking... **_

_**Thanks to everyone else that reviewed! Each and every review means the world to me, so thanks! **_

_**Now, on with the chapter! **_

_**Enjoy!**_

_**-Rach ;)**_

* * *

><p><em><strong>Max's POV <strong>_

I felt myself slam painfully into the ground. The smell of grass filled my nostrils. My eyes were closed. I didn't move. All of the breath was knocked out of me, and my head was spinning, my ribs were throbbing, my stomach was churning and my wrist was aching. Not to mention that every bone and muscle in my body seemed to be burning. I gripped the cup tighter, and felt someone holding my shoulder. Shock, exhaustion and pain kept me on the ground, waiting... waiting for something to happen... for someone to do something... for once in my life, I wanted someone to do something for me... I wanted someone to take the pain away... but I noticed the longer I lay in the grass in Harry's arm, holding the Cup, that my breaths were coming easier, and the pain was starting to ebb away slightly as I calmed down...

An explosion of sound deafened and confused me; there were voices everywhere, footsteps, shouts and screams. I stayed where I was, feeling Harry tighten his grip on me.

The someone grabbed me and turned me onto my back.

"Harry! Max!"

I opened my eyes.

I was looking up at the starry sky, and Albus Dumbledore and Severus Snape were crouched over me and Harry. The dark shadows of a crowd were pressing closer and closer; I could feel the ground under my back vibrating with their footsteps.

We had come back to the edge of the maze. I could see stands rising above me, the blurred shapes of people moving in them.

I let go of the Cup, and watched as it rolled away from my scratched and cut fingers, but Harry's grip only tightened. I turned my head slowly, and saw that he was still holding onto Cedric too.

I reached up and grabbed onto Dumbledore's wrist, pulling him closer. Beside me, Harry whispered, "He's back. He's back. Voldemort."

"What's going on? What happened?" Fudge appeared upside down over me and Harry, his face white.

"My God- Diggory! he gasped. "Dumbledore- he's dead!"

_You don't say. _

The words were repeated, the shadowy figures drawing in closer, some gasping, other's shouting it- screeched it- into the night- "He's dead!" "Oh God, he's dead!" "Cedric Diggory's dead!"

"Harry, let go of him," Fudge said. I saw him trying to pry Harry's fingers from Cedric's wrist, but Harry wouldn't let go. But his grip did loosen on me, enough for Snape to take my arm and with a gentleness I didn't think he possessed, Snape started examining my injuries. I hissed and groaned when he prodded my ribs and wrist, and the long cut on my forearm that was still bleeding, and nearly cried out when he came across a lump on my head that was bleeding heavily.

_Where the hell did that come?_ I thought.

**You hit your head against the headstone when Wormtail tied you to it. You just didn't feel it because you were pumped up on adrenaline since. **

_Ah, so that's why everything is blurry and I can't focus on anyone's face properly. _

**That, and you were tortured for a while. **

_Right. Thanks for all the help, Voice. You've been great,_ I thought sarcastically. Thankfully, it didn't reply.

That was when I realised that Snape was trying to get my attention.

"Miss Ride? Miss Ride? Can you hear me?" he was asking. I blinked and looked back at him and nodded.

"You have a bad concussion, your wrist is broken, and you have two cracked ribs. You also have a bad cut on your forearm, but it's not bleeding as bad any more. I shall bring you to the hospital wing," he said.

"Can you stand?" he asked.

I nodded again, feeling dazed. I tried to climb to my feet, but fell when I got to my knees. Snape sighed and bent down and raised me to my feet. I swayed, my head pounding, but I was able to stay on my feet.

I looked around, and took in the scene before me. Girls were screaming, sobbing hysterically... the crowd were fighting to get closer, pressing darkly in on us. "What's happened?" "What's wrong with him?" "What happened to her?" "Diggory's dead!"

I saw Dumbledore comforting a sobbing Amos Diggory and his hysterical wife. My eyes landed on Cedric's lifeless body, and I felt like I was going to throw up.

Then I noticed that someone was missing.

I stumbled away from Snape and towards Dumbledore, who had ordered someone to bright the Diggory's back to the castle. He saw me swaying dangerously and put a hand on my arm, steadying me. "Are you all right, Max? What happened? How did you get caught up in this?"

But I didn't answer any of his questions. Instead, I asked, "Where's Harry? Has he already gone to the hospital wing?"

"No, he should be-" Dumbledore started, but then he looked around and didn't see Harry either. "He was standing right there a minute ago," he said, now looking all around him.

I looked around, hoping I'd be able to see him with my raptor vision, but I didn't see him.

I turned back to Dumbledore, knowing that there was something I had to tell him. At first, I couldn't remember, but then it came to me and I felt like and idiot that I forgot it in the first place.

"Sir!" I shouted, my voice a little raspy from screaming. "Sir, Moody's a Death Eater! He's the one who put Harry's name into the Cup under a different school, and the one who knocked me out and brought me to the graveyard!" I said in one breath. Dumbledore stared at me with wide blue eyes, but they weren't twinkling like normal.

Before he could say anything else, McGonagall came up and said, "Albus, I just saw Alastor with Harry. But he wasn't heading towards the hospital wing."

A cold fury crossed over Dumbledore's face, and at that moment, I understood how he was the only wizard that Voldemort actually feared. There wasn't the usual hint of a smile on his lips that was usually always there, no twinkle in his eyes behind his spectacles. There was fury in every line of his ancient face; a sense of power radiated from Dumbledore as though he was giving off a burning heat.

"That's not Alastor Moody. It's an impostor," Dumbledore said before taking off in the direction of the castle. Me, McGonagall and Snape followed him, close at his heels, and McGonagall turned to me. "Miss Ride, I think you should go to the hospital wing-"

"No," Dumbledore said. "She'll come with us." He left no room for arguments.

So I followed the Professor's, still not able to focus on anything clearly, stumbling and swaying more than walking. I heard people gasping, shouting and screaming as we pushed a path through them, back to the castle. Across the lawn, past the lake and the Durmstrang ship. We finally reached the castle, and we crossed the entrance hall without a word.

McGonagall had to keep her hand on my elbow as we went up the marble staircase so I wouldn't fall.

It took another few minutes to reach Moody's office, where Dumbledore was sure Moody took Harry. When we were outside the door, I reached out to open it, but Dumbledore pulled my hand back gently, rising a finger to his lips. We waited, and after a few seconds we heard Moody shouting.

"Mad, am I?" he yelled, his voice rising uncontrollably. "We'll see! We'll see who's mad, now that the Dark Lord has returned, with me at his side! He is back, Harry Potter, you did not conquer him- and now- I conquer you, and the winged brat next!"

_"Stupefy!" _

I jumped as Dumbledore cast the Stunning Charm, and the door to Moody's office was blasted apart. I saw Moody being thrown backward and onto the office floor. Harry was standing beside Moody's desk, looking pale, shocked and confused. I rushed over and stood beside him, giving him a small grin that said, _despite everything, we're still alive_.

Harry put his arm around my waist and I leaned into him, finally feeling safe.

Dumbledore stepped into the office behind me, placed a foot underneath Moody's unconscious body and kicked him onto his back. Snape followed him. McGonagall, however, went straight to me and Harry.

"Come along, Potter, Ride," she whispered. The thin line of her mouth was twitching as if she was about to cry. "Come along... hospital wing..."

"No," Dumbledore said sharply.

"Albus, they ought to- look at them, Miss Ride can barely stay on her feet and Potter's as white as a sheet. They've been through enough tonight-"

"They will both stay, Minerva, because they need to understand," Dumbledore said curtly. "Understanding is the first step to acceptance, and only with acceptance can there be recovery. They need to know who has put them through this ordeal tonight, and why."

"Moody," Harry said, looking as if he was still in a state of complete shock and disbelief. "How can it have been Moody?"

"This is not Alastor Moody," Dumbledore said quietly. "You have never know Alastor Moody. The real Moody would never have removed you from my sight tonight after what had happened. And the real Moody would never have knocked out an innocent student and brought them to the mercy of Lord Voldemort."

Dumbledore bent down and reached into Moody's robes. He pulled out Moody's hip flask and a set of keys on a large key. He then turned to McGonagall and Snape.

"Severus, please fetch me the strongest Truth Potion you possess, and then go down to the kitchens and fetch me a house-elf called Winky. Minerva, kindly go down to Hagrid's house, where you will find a large black dog sitting in the pumpkin patch. Take the dog up to my office and tell him that I'll be there shortly, then come back here."

If either Snape of McGonagall found these instructions strange, they hid their confusion. Both turned at once and left the office. Dumbledore walked over to a large trunk in the corner of the office with seven locks, fitted the first key into the lock and opened it. It contained a small pile of books. Dumbledore closed the trunk and placed the second key into the next lock, and opened it again. The books were gone; this time it contained an assortment of Sneak-scopes, some parchment and quills, and what looked like an Invisibility Cloak. I watched, astounded as Dumbledore placed the third, fourth, fifth and sixth keys in their respective locks, reopening the trunk each time. Then he placed the seventh key in the lock, and threw open the trunk. Me and Harry both let out cries of amazement.

We were looking down into some kind of pit, an underground room, and lying on the floor, about ten feet below, asleep, thin and starved in appearance (kinda like the flock back at the School) was the real Mad-Eye Moody. His wooden leg was gone, the socket that should have held the magical eye looked empty beneath it's lid and chunks of grizzled hair were missing. I stared between the sleeping Moody in the trunk and the unconscious Moody on the floor.

Dumbledore climbed into the trunk, lowered himself and landed softly beside the real Moody. He bent over him.

"Stunned- controlled under the Imperius Curse- very weak," he said. "Of course, they would of needed to keep him alive. Harry, throw down the impostors cloak- he's freezing. Madam Pomfrey will need to see him, but he should he fine."

Harry took his arm away from around my waist and did as Dumbledore said. Dumbledore covered Moody in the cloak, and climbed out of the trunk again. Then he picked up the hip flask, opened it, and turned it over. A thick, gross liquid splattered onto the floor that looked familiar, but I couldn't remember.

"Polyjuice Potion," Dumbledore said, as if he was reading my mind. "You see the simplicity of it, yet the brilliance. For Moody is well known for only ever drinking from his hip flask. The impostor needed, of course, to keep the real Moody close by, so that he could continue making the potion. You see his hair..." Dumbledore looked down at Moody in the trunk. "The impostor's been cutting it off all year, you see where it's uneven? But I think in the excitement of tonight, our fake Moody might have forgotten to take it as frequently as he should have... every hour, on the hour..."

Dumbledore pulled out the chair from behind the desk and sat in it, his eyes fixed on the unconscious form in front of him. Harry, staring at him too, grabbed my hand and held it tight. Minutes passed in silence.

Then, before my eyes, the man in front of us started to change. The scars were disappearing, the skin was becoming smooth; the mangled nose became whole and started to shrink. The long mane of grizzled grey hair was withdrawing into the scalp and turning straw colour. Suddenly, with a loud clunk, the wooden leg fell away and was soon replaced with a real leg; next, the magical eyeball popped out of the man's face as a real eye came to replace it; it rolled across the floor and continued to swivel in every direction.

I saw the man lying in front of me, pale-skinned, slightly freckled, with a mop of fair hair. I knew who it was. I had seen him in Dumbledore's Pensieve, had watched him being led away from court by Dementors, trying to convince his father that he was innocent...

Yeah. Because he was so innocent now.

There were hurried footsteps outside in the corridor. Snape had returned with Winky at his heels. Professor McGonagall was right behind them.

"Crouch!" Snape said, stopping dead in the doorway. "Barty Crouch!"

"Good heavens," McGonagall said.

Filthy, disheveled Winky peered around Snape's leg. Her mouth opened wide and she let out a piercing shriek.

"Master Barty, Master Barty, what is you doing here?" She flung herself forward onto the young man's chest.

"You is killed him! You is killed him! You is killed Master's son!"

"He is simply Stunned, Winky," Dumbledore said. "Step aside, please. Severus, you have the potion?"

Snape handed Dumbledore a small glass bottle of completely clear liquid. Veritaserum. Dumbledore got up, bent over the man on the floor and pulled him into a sitting position against the wall. Winky stayed on her knees, trembling, her hands in her face. Dumbledore forced the man's mouth open and poured three drops into his mouth. Then he pointed his wand at the man's chest and said, "_Ennervate." _

Crouch's son opened his eyes. His face was slack, his gaze unfocused. Dumbledore knelt before him, so that their faces were level.

"Can you hear me?" Dumbledore asked quietly.

The man's eyelids flickered. "Yes," he muttered.

"I would like you to tell us," Dumbledore said softly, "how you came to be here. How did you escape from Azkaban?"

Crouch took a deep, shuddering breath, then began to speak in a low, flat voice.

"My mother saved me. She knew she was dying. She persuaded my father to rescue me as a last favour to her. He loved her as he had never loved me. He agreed. They came to visit me. They gave me some Polyjuice Potion containing one of my mother's hairs. She took some Polyjuice Potion containing one of my hairs. We took on each other's appearance."

Winky was shaking her head, trembling.

"Say no more, Master Barty, say no more, you is getting your father in trouble!"

But Crouch took another deep breath and continued in the same flat voice.

"The dementors are blind. They sensed one healthy, one dying person entering Azkaban. They sensed one healthy, one dying person leaving it. My father smuggled me out, disguised as my mother, in case any other prisoners were watching from their doors.

"My mother died a short while after in Azkaban. She was careful to drink Polyjuice Potion until the end. She was buried under my name and bearing my experience. Everyone thought it was me."

His eyelids flickered.

"And what did your father do with you, when he had you home?" Dumbledore said quietly.

"Staged my mother's death. A quiet, private funeral. That grave is empty. The house-elf nursed me back to health. Then I had to be concealed. I had to be controlled. My father used a number of spells to subdue me. When I had recovered my strength, I thought only of rejoining my master... of returning to his services..."

"How did your father subdue you?" Dumbledore asked.

"The Imperius Curse," he said. "I was completely under my father's control. I was forced to wear an Invisibility Cloak all day and night. I was always with the house-elf. She was my keeper and caretaker. She pitied me. She persuaded my father to give me occasional treats. Rewards for my good behaviour."

"Master Barty, Master Barty," sobbed Winky into her hands. "You isn't ought to tell them, we is getting in trouble..."

"Did anybody ever discover that you were still alive?" Dumbledore said. "Did anyone other than your father and the house-elf know?"

"Yes," Crouch said, his eyelids flickering again. "A witch in my father's office. Bertha Jorkins. She came to the house with papers for my father to sign. He was not at home. Winky showed her inside and returned to the kitchen, to me. Bertha Jorkins heard Winky talking to me. She came to investigate. She heard enough to guess who was under the Invisibility Cloak. My father came home. She confronted him. He put a very powerful Memory Charm on her to make her forget what she'd found out. Too powerful. He said it damaged her memory permanently."

"Why is she coming to nose into my masters private business?" sobbed Winky. "Why isn't she leaving us be?"

"Tell me about the Quidditch World Cup," Dumbledore said.

"Winky talked my father into it," he said. "She spent months persuading him. I had not left the house in years. I had loved Quidditch. Let him go, she said. He will be in his Invisibility Cloak. He can watch. Let him smell fresh air again. She said my mother would have wanted it. She told my father than my mother had died to give me freedom. She had not saved me for a life of imprisonment. Eventually, he agreed.

"It was carefully planned. My father led me and Winky up to the Top Box early in the day. Winky was to say she was saving a seat for my father. I was to sit there, invisible. When everyone had left the box, we would emerge. Winky would appear to be alone. Nobody would ever know. But Winky didn't know that I was getting stronger. I was starting to fight my father's Imperius Curse. There were times when I was almost myself again. There were brief periods when I was outside his control. It happened there, in the Top Box. It was like waking from a deep sleep. I found myself in public, in the middle of the match. And I saw, in front of me, a wand sticking out of a boy's pocket. I had not been allowed a wand since before Azkaban. I stole it. Winky didn't know. Winky is frightened of heights. She kept her face hidden."

"Master Barty, you bad boy!" whispered Winky, tears trickling between her fingers.

"So you took the wand," said Dumbledore, "and what did you do with it?"

"Went back to the tent," Crouch said. "Then we heard them. We heard the Death Eaters. The ones who had never been the Azkaban. The ones who never suffered for my master. They had turned their backs on him. They were disloyal. They hadn't been enslaved, as I was. They were free to try and find him, but they did not. They were cowards, merely making sport out of Muggles. They woke me up. My mind was clearer than it had been in years, and I was very angry. I had the wand.

"I wanted to attack them for their disloyalty to my master. My father had left the tent; he had gone to free the Muggles. Winky was afraid to see me so angry. She used her own magic to bind me to her. She pulled me from the tent, pulled me into the forest, away from the Death Eaters. I tried to hold her back. I wanted to go back to the campsite. I wanted to show those Death Eaters what loyalty meant, and punish them for their lack of it. I used the stolen wand to cast the Dark Mark into the sky.

"Ministry wizards arrived. They shot Stunning Spells everywhere. One of the spells came through the trees where Winky and I stood. The bond connecting us was broken. We were both Stunned. When Winky was discovered, my father knew I must be nearby. He searched the bushes where she had been found and felt me lying there. He waited until the Ministry members had left the forest before putting me back under the Imperius Curse and took me home.

"He dismissed Winky. She had failed him. She had left me acquire a wand. She almost let me escape."

Winky let out a wail of despair.

"Now it was just Father and I, alone in the house. And then... and then..." Crouch's head rolled on his neck, and an insane grin spread across his face, reminding me vaguely of the Joker from the Batman movies we used to watch with Jeb.

"My master came for me. He arrived at our house late one night in the arms of his useless servant, Wormtail. My master had found out that I was still alive. He had captured Bertha Jorkins in Albania, and tortured her. She told him a great deal. She told him about the Triwizard Tournament.

"She told him that the old auror, Moody, was going to teach at Hogwarts. He tortured her until he broke the Memory Charm my father had placed on her. She told him that I had escaped from Azkaban. She told him that my father kept me imprisoned to prevent me from seeking my master. And so my master knew that I was still a faithful servant- perhaps the most faithful of all. My master made a plan, based on the information he got from Bertha Jorkins. He needed me. He arrived at our house near midnight. My father answered the door."

The smile spread wider over Crouch's face, as though he was reliving the sweetest and happiest moment of his life. Winy's petrified brown eyes were visible under her fingers. She seemed to frightened and emotional to speak.

"It was very quick. My father was placed under the Imperius Curse by my master. Now my father was the one imprisoned, being controlled. My master forced him to do his business as usual, to act as though nothing was wrong. And I was released. I awoke. I was alive again."

"And what did Lord Voldemort ask you to do?" Dumbledore said.

"He asked me whether I was ready to risk everything for him. I was ready. It was my dream, my greatest ambition, to serve him, to prove myself to him. He told me he needed to place a faithful servant at Hogwarts. A servant who would guide Harry Potter through the Triwizard Tournament without appearing to do so. A servant who would watch over Harry Potter. Ensure he reached the Triwizard Cup. Turn the Cup into a Portkey, which would take the first person to touch it to my master. But first-"

"You needed Alastor Moody," Dumbledore said. His blue eyes blazed, though he remained calm.

"Wormtail and I did it," Crouch said, "We had prepared the Polyjuice Potion beforehand. We went to his house. Moody put up quite a struggle. There was a commotion. We managed to subdue him just in time. Forced him into a compartment in his own magical trunk. Took some of his hair and added it to the potion. I drank it, becoming Moody's double. I took his leg and his eye. I was ready to face Arthur Weasley when he arrived to sort out the Muggles who had heard the disturbance. I made the dustbins move around the yard. I told Weasley that I had heard intruders, who had set off the dustbins. Then I packed up Moody's clothes and Dark detectors, put them in the trunk with Moody and set off for Hogwarts. I kept him alive, under the Imperius Curse. I wanted to be able to learn from him, learn his habits and about his past. I learned enough that I was able to fool even Albus Dumbledore.

"I also needed his hair for the Polyjuice Potion. The other ingredients were easy. I just stole them from the dungeons. When the Potions master caught me there, I pretended I was under orders to search it."

"And what became of Wormtail after you attacked Moody?" Dumbledore asked.

"Wormtail returned to my master, in my fathers house, and to keep watch over father."

"But your father escaped."

"Yes. After a while, he started fighting the Imperius Curse just as I had done. There were periods when he knew what was happening. My master decided it was no longer safe for my father to leave the house. He forced him to send letters to the Ministry instead. He made him write and say he was ill. But Wormtail neglected his duty... he wasn't watchful enough, and my father escaped. My master guessed that he was going to Hogwarts, to tell Dumbledore everything, to confess, to admit that he had smuggled me from Azkaban.

"My master sent me word of my father's escape, and told me to stop him at all costs. So I waited and watched. I used the map I had taken from Harry Potter. The map that almost ruined everything for me."

"Map?" Dumbledore said. "What map is this?"

"Potter's map of Hogwarts. Potter saw me on it. Potter saw me stealing more ingredients for the Polyjuice Potion from Snape's office one night. He thought I was my father. We have the same first name. I took the map from Potter, told him and Ride my father hated Dark wizard. Potter and Ride believed my father was after Snape.

"For a week, I waited for my father. Finally, the map showed my father entering the grounds. I pulled on my Invisibility Cloak and went down to meet him. He was walking around the edge of the forest. Then I saw Ride, hiding in the trees. Then Potter and Krum came. I waited. I could not hurt Potter or Ride. My master needed them. Potter and Ride ran for Dumbledore.

"I stunned Krum. I killed my father."

"Nooo!" wailed Winky. "Master Barty, master Barty, what is you saying?"

"You killed your father," Dumbledore said, still sounding calm. "What did you do with his body?"

"Carried it to the forest. Covered it with the Invisibility Cloak. I had the map with me. I watched Potter and Ride running into the castle, and meeting Snape. Dumbledore joined them. I watched them bring Dumbledore out of the castle, and I walked back out of the forest, doubled around behind them, and went to meet them. I told Dumbledore that Snape had told me where to go. Dumbledore told me to go look for my father. I went back to my father's body. Watched the map. When everyone was gone, I Transfigured my father's body into a bone... I buried it, while wearing the Invisibility Cloak, in the freshly dug ground outside Hagrid's cabin."

There was complete silence now, except for Winky's continued sobs. Then Dumbledore said, "And tonight..."

"I offered to hide the Triwizard Cup in the maze this morning. Said I'd need to bring a student with me. So the next part of the plan was to bring Maximum Ride into to the maze and bring her to my master. And I did. I turned the Cup into a Portkey. My masters plan worked. He is returned to power and I will be honoured by him."

"There is still something I don't understand," Dumbledore said. "Why Miss Ride? I understand Harry, he defeated Lord Voldemort when he was a baby, but why Max? She never did anything to become one of his major enemies like Harry."

Crouch grinned madly. "It's not what she has done, it's what she will do."

"What does that mean?"

"I have no idea. It's what my master told me. He only told me that she was a new target after that article in the Daily Prophet about her and her wings. I didn't ask more than that."

The insane smile on his face grew wider, and his head dropped onto his shoulder as Winky wailed and sobbed at his side.

* * *

><p><em><strong>And here it is, ladies and gentlemen! This was pretty much a filler chapter, as I said at the top, but I hoped you all enjoyed it nonetheless, and that it wasn't too sucky. <strong>_

_**I don't know if I'll get another chapter in before I get back from London, but maybe I will, who knows :)**_

_**Something I wanted to check- I want to know if I have more girls, or more boys reading this story. So if you could review with your gender or something... you don't have to, I'm just curious :) **_

_**Thanks to all of you, you guys are amazing! **_

_**As always, if you want butterbeer and cookies, you need to... **_

_**REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW!**_

_**LOVE YOU GUYS!**_

_**-Rach ;)**_


	34. The Parting Of Ways

_**AUTHORS NOTE! :P**_

_**Hi everybody! How you all been?**_

_**There is only one more chapter left guys :( I have to say, I have loved writing this, and you guys are all amazing :) **_

_**Can we get to 500 reviews before this story is finished? We're close enough now!**_

_**Now I shall answer some reviews... **_

_**gmbookworm: Thanks :) I know, I can't stand it! Its waaaay too hot. **_

_**BethZ: Well the Warner Bro's Studios is in the outskirts of London, but we're staying in a hotel close to King's Cross! Isn't that awesome? I'll be there from the 18th to the 22nd :D I write the chapters on Fanfiction, so I don't know how many pages exactly... :)**_

_**Arkell26: I agree hahaa :) **_

_**SevLoverKat: I suppose you'll have to see... :)**_

_**PatrickNotStar: hahaha thanks :)**_

_**I realised that I made a mistake in the Priori Incantatem chapter. Max's mom should of come out of Voly's wand before James and Lily. So let's just pretend that she did, kay? **_

_**Now, on with the chapter! **_

_**Enjoy!**_

_**-Rach ;) **_

* * *

><p><em><strong>Max's POV <strong>_

Dumbledore stood up. He stared down at Crouch for a minute with disgust on his face. Then he raised his wand, and ropes flew out of it that tied up Barty Crouch tightly. He turned to McGonagall.

"Minerva, could I ask you to stand guard while I take Harry and Max upstairs?"

I tightened my hold on Harry's hand, not wanting to let him go. My head was still spinning, and I knew that if I let him go, I'd probably fall to the ground and that wasn't something I wanted to do. Not now.

"Of course," McGonagall agreed. She pulled out her wand, looking slightly nauseous, and pointed it at Barty Crouch, her hand quite steady. It was then that I realised just how much of a freaking badass McGonagall was.

"Severus"- Dumbledore turned to Snape- "please tell Madam Pomfrey to come down here; we need to get Alastor Moody into the hospital wing. Then go back to the grounds and get Cornelius Fudge, and bring him up to this office. He probably wants to question Crouch himself. Tell him I'll be in the hospital wing in half an hours time if he needs me."

Snape nodded and swept out of the room.

"Harry? Max?" Dumbledore said gently. I straightened up from where I had been leaning against the desk, with Harry doing the same beside me. We both swayed dangerously. The pain in my wrist and ribs, which I hadn't noticed the whole time Crouch had been talking, returned in full measure. I saw Harry look down at his leg, that even I could see was as alarmingly swollen as my wrist. I also realised that I was shaking. Dumbledore gripped Harry's arm, and Harry was still holding my hand, so while Dumbledore helped Harry out into the dark corridor, and Harry helped me.

"I want you to come up to my office first," he said quietly as we headed up the passageway. "Sirius is waiting for us there."

My head shot up. Sirius? He was here? I almost smiled. After almost a year, I was going to see my father. But I couldn't help but feel worried. What if he was caught? If Fudge caught Sirius, Sirius would either end up back in Azkaban until he died, or else the dementors would perform the Kiss on him- which was when the dementors sucked a persons soul out.

A kind of numbness had washed over me, for which I was grateful. I didn't want to have to feel the pain, or remember what happened tonight. The only thing I could feel and focus on was my hand in Harry's. I noticed that he was running his thumb gently over my fingers. I didn't know if he was trying to comfort me, or himself.

Suddenly, Harry spoke up. "Professor, where are Mr and Mrs Diggory?" he mumbled.

_Oh yeah, _I thought, _Cedric asked us to return him to his parents. Did we do that? I can't remember... _

"I believe they are with Professor Sprout," Dumbledore answered. His voice, which had been so calm and controlled while interrogating Barty Crouch, shook slightly for the first time. "She was Head of his house, and knew him best."

We had reached the stone gargoyle. Dumbledore gave the password, and it sprang aside, and we went up the moving spiral staircase to the oak door. Dumbledore pushed it open, and Sirius was standing there. His face was white and gaunt as it had been when he had escaped from Azkaban. In one swift moment, he had crossed the room.

"Harry, Max, are you all right? I knew it- I knew something like this- what happened?"

I could only imagine what we looked like. Harry's face was dirty, sweaty and bloody. His robes were torn and also covered in blood. I'm guessing that I looked the same- bruised, dirty and bloody.

Sirius'shands shook as he helped me and Harry into the chairs in front of the desk.

"What happened?" he asked again, more urgently.

Dumbledore started telling Sirius everything Crouch had said. I was only half listening. I was so tired, and every bone in my body was aching. I wanted nothing more than to sit here with Harry, until I eventually fall asleep and not have to feel anything.

There was a rush of wings. I recognised Fawkes, Dumbledore's pet phoenix. Fawkes left his perch, flew across the room and landed gently on Harry's knee.

"Hi, Fawkes," Harry said quietly, stroking the bird's scarlet and golden plumage. Fawkes blinked peacefully up at us. I would of petted him, but Harry was still holding my hand, and I wasn't going to do anything with my broken wrist. But there was something comforting about about Harry beside me, holding my hand, my dad standing in the same room, and Fawkes soft, peaceful gaze.

Dumbledore stopped talking. He sat down opposite us, behind his desk. He was looking at me and Harry, but I avoided his eyes. I felt suddenly ashamed of myself. How did I let Crouch get the jump on me? How could I have been so stupid and weak? What the hell was wrong with me?

"I need to know everything that happened tonight. Max, if you don't mind, I would like to start with what happened to you after Crouch knocked you out," Dumbledore said.

"We can leave that till morning, can't we, Dumbledore?" Sirius said harshly, putting a hand on my shoulder. "Let the two of them rest, have a sleep."

I felt a rush of gratitude towards my dad, but Dumbledore took no notice of Sirius's words. He leaned forward towards me and Harry. Harry squeezed my fingers before raising his head and looking Dumbledore in the eyes.

_If he can find the strength to do that, so can I, _I thought, squeezing his fingers back. I raised my head and gritted my teeth, and then I looked Dumbledore in the eyes. His gaze was flickering between me and Harry. He could probably feel the reluctance we both had to retelling the events of what happened tonight.

"If I thought I could help you," Dumbledore said gently, "by putting you both into an enchanted sleep and allowing you to postpone the moment when you would have to think about what happened tonight, I would do it. But I know better. Numbing the pain for a while will make it worse when you finally feel it. The two of you have shown bravery beyond anything I could have expected of either of you. Now, I ask you both to demonstrate your courage one last time. I ask you to tell me what happened, starting with you, Max."

Fawkes let out a soft, quivering note, and I recognised the noise from the graveyard. Somehow, the noise, combined with Harry's hand in mine, and Sirius's hand on my shoulder, I managed to focus and get strength.

I took a deep breath, careful not to aggravate my ribs, and I began to tell them. As I spoke, visions of everything that happened before Harry and Cedric showed up flashed before my eyes; waking up in that graveyard, tied up; I saw Wormtail as he hit and kicked me; felt the crack when I broke my wrist to get out of the ropes; and of course, being tortured.

When I mentioned the Cruciatus Curse, Sirius's hand tightened on my shoulder and his face paled even more. He looked like he wanted to interrupt, but Dumbledore silently held up his hand.

When I got to the part where Harry and Cedric showed up and I woke up, Dumbledore stopped me, and asked for Harry to continue. So Harry told his story, with me inputting something every now and then. Once again, I saw the sparkling surface of the potion that had brought Voldemort back to his body; saw the Death Eaters Apparating around us, laughing when we got tortured; I saw Cedric's body, lying on the ground beside the Triwizard Cup.

More than once, Sirius tried to say something, but for those times as well, Dumbledore would just raise his hand again to stop him. For this, I was glad, because it was easier to help Harry explain, and to remember what happened now that we started, and I probably wouldn't be able to keep going if we were interrupted. It was even kinda a relief... it felt like I was getting poison taken from my body. I knew that when we finished, I would feel better.

When we got to the part where Wormtail cut our arms with the dagger, however, Sirius let out an exclamation and Dumbledore stood up so fast that I started. Dumbledore walked around the desk and told us to stretch out our arms. For us to do this, we had to let go of each others arms. We showed them the long, identical cut underneath the tear in our shirts.

"He said my blood would make him stronger than if he used someone else's," Harry told Dumbledore. "He said the protection that my- that my mother left in me- he'd have it too. And he was right- he could touch me without being in pain himself, he touched my face."

Dumbledore turned to me. I shrugged. "I still don't know what he wanted with me. All I have is what Crouch said earlier, and that fact that he seemed annoyed that I helped Harry defeat him before. Maybe he thought the avian DNA would make him stronger as well or something. "

For an instant, I thought I saw something like triumph in his eyes. But next second it was gone, and I was sure that I had imagined it, because when he sat back down at his desk, he looked as old and weary as I had ever seen him.

"Very well," Dumbledore said. "Please continue."

So we went on; we explained how Voldemort had emerged from the cauldron, and between the two of us, told them most of Voldemort's speech. Then how we had been untied and given back our wands, prepared to duel. When we got to the part where Harry was tortured, and I was tortured again, Sirius looked like he was going to get sick.

But when we reached the part where the golden beam of light had connected our three wands, neither of us could continue. I could see again Cedric emerging, then the old man, Bertha Jorkins, my mum, Harry's parents...

I was glad when Sirius broke the silence.

"The wands connected?" Sirius said. "Why?"

I looked up at Dumbledore again as he muttered, "Priori Incantatem."

"The Reverse Spell thing?" Sirius asked.

"Exactly," Dumbledore. "Harry's wand, and Max's wand, share the same core as the one in Voldemort's. Each of them contain the feather from the tail of the same phoenix. This phoenix, actually," he added, pointing to Fawkes.

"Wait- we have the same wand cores?" I asked, pointing between me and Harry, who looked just as amazed. Dumbledore nodded.

"And our wand feathers come from Fawkes?" Harry said.

"Yes," Dumbledore said. "Mr Ollivander wrote to tell me when you bought the second wand, Max, and then again when Harry bought the third, a few days later, four years ago."

"So what happens when a wand meets it brother- or brothers?" Sirius asked.

"They will not work properly against each other," Dumbledore explained calmly. "If however, the owners of the wands force the wands to do battle... a very rare effect will take place. One, or two, of the wands will force the other to regurgitate the spells it has performed- in reverse. The most recent first... and then those which preceded it..."

He looked interrogatively at us, and we both nodded.

"Which means," Dumbledore said slowly, "that some form of Cedric much have reappeared."

We nodded again.

"Wait- Diggory came back to life?" Sirius said sharply.

Dumbledore shook his head. "No spell can reawaken the dead. All that would have happened is a kind of reverse echo... A shadow of the living Cedric emerged from the wand... am I correct?"

"He spoke to us," Harry said, who was suddenly shaking again. I grabbed hold of his arm again. "The...the ghost Cedric, or whatever it was... it spoke."

"An echo," Dumbledore explained, "which kept Cedric's appearance and character. I'm guessing other forms appeared."

"An old guy," I said, "Bertha Jorkins. And..."

"Your mother?" Dumbledore said quietly. He looked at Harry. "And your parents?"

"Yeah," I said. Harry just nodded.

Sirius's grip on my shoulder was so tight it was painful.

"The last murders the wand performed," Dumbledore said, nodding. "In reverse order. More would have showed up, had you kept the connection longer. Very well, Harry, Max... this echoes, these shadows... what did they do?"

Harry described how the figures had all emerged from the wand had walked around the edge of the golden web, how Voldemort seemed frightened of them, how Lily had told us what to do, and Cedric's request. Then Harry stopped and seemed like he couldn't continue. I tried to speak, to explain what happened next, but nothing would come out of my mouth.

"I will say it again," Dumbledore said, "you have both shown bravery beyond anything I could have expected of you tonight. The two of you have shown courage equal to those who fought against Voldemort at the height of his powers, and that's including your parents. You have both shouldered an adults burden and found yourselves equal to it. Now, you shall both come with me to the hospital wing. I do not want you two returning to Gryffindor Tower tonight. Sleeping Potions, I believe, are in order... Sirius, I imagine you would like to stay with them?"

Sirius nodded and stood up. He transformed into the great black dog and walked with us down to the hospital wing.

When Dumbledore pushed the door open, I saw Mrs Weasley, Bill, Angel, Gazzy, Fang, Iggy, Nudge, Ron and Hermione huddled around a harassed-looking Madam Pomfrey. It looked like they were demanding to know where me and Harry were, and what happened to us. All of them wheeled around as me, Harry, Dumbledore and the large black dog entered and Mrs Weasley let out a muffled scream.

"Max! Harry!"

She started to hurry towards us, but Dumbledore stepped in between us.

"Molly," he said, "please listen to me. Harry and Max have been through quite an ordeal tonight. They have just had to relive it for me. What they need now is sleep, peace, and quiet. If they would like you all to stay," he added, looking around at the rest of the flock, Bill, Ron and Hermione, "you may do so. But I do not want anyone questioning them until they are ready to answer, and that certainly isn't this evening."

Mrs Weasley nodded, tears in her eyes. She was very pale. She rounded on the other people in the room, and as if they'd been noisy, she hissed, "Didn't you hear? They need quiet!"

"Headmaster," Madam Pomfrey said, looking down at the dog that was Sirius, "may I ask wha-"

"This dog shall be remaining with Harry and Max for a while," Dumbledore said. "I assure you, he is very well trained."

I felt a great sense of gratitude towards Dumbledore for telling the others not to question us tonight. It's not like I didn't want them here, I did- it was just the thought of having to relive it once more, was more than I could handle. I was like being back at the School.

"I will back as soon as I have met with Fudge," Dumbledore said. "I would like you both to stay here tomorrow while I address the school." He left.

As Madam Pomfrey led us over to a nearby bed, I spotted the real Moody lying unconscious on a bed in the far end of the room. I tapped Harry slightly on the hand as nodded my head towards Moody. "Will he be okay?" he asked.

"He'll be fine," Madam Pomfrey said, handing me and Harry some pyjamas, and leading Harry towards one bed, and me towards the one beside it. She closed the curtains around our beds to get changed. I tried to take off my filthy robes myself, but with a broken wrist, cracked ribs and a concussion, it was kinda tricky.

I hissed quietly when pain shot through my wrist as I tried to take off my shirt. But Madam Pomfrey heard it anyway, and opened my curtains slightly. She must of seen my swollen wrist because she called for Mrs Weasley and they both came in, and together they helped me out of my dirty uniform and into the pyjamas. After I had climbed into bed, Madam Pomfrey opened the curtains around me and Harry's beds, then disappeared to get some potions and bandages.

The flock, Ron, Hermione, Bill and Mrs Weasley all settled themselves into chairs around our beds. Angel climbed up onto my bed and looked at me with big, tear filled eyes.

"It's okay, Angel," I said gently, in the same voice I use when she has nightmares, "I'm fine. Just sleepy." But Angel didn't want to leave my side, so she ended up sitting by my feet, holding onto my good hand. A few minutes later, the Gasman climbed up beside her, staring at me worriedly.

Madam Pomfrey finally came back out, her arms full of bottles of potion and a few bandages. She fixed up Harry's leg first, then she fixed my wrist and ribs, and she gave me a potion for my concussion, then she wrapped my wrist and ribs in thick bandages, and told me she'll remove them in the morning.

Then she came back holding two goblets full of some purple potion.

"You'll need to drink all of this," she told me and Harry, "It's a potion for dreamless sleep."

Me and Harry took the goblets, and I drank a few mouthfuls. Immediately, I felt myself becoming drowsy. Everything around me was becoming hazy. Before I could finish the potion, I was asleep.

* * *

><p>I woke up so warm, so sleepy, so pain-free, that I didn't want to open my eyes or move, I wanted to go back to sleep. The room was dimly lit, and I was sure it was still night time, and I had a feeling that I hadn't been asleep very long.<p>

Then I heard whispering around me.

"They'll wake Harry and Max if they don't shut up!"

"What are they shouting about? Nothing else can have happened, can it?"

I slowly opened my eyes. I saw Mrs Weasley and Bill standing in between me and Harry's beds. I turned my head slightly, and saw that Harry was awake too, but he wasn't wearing his glasses and was squinting to see who was at the end of his bed. He must of sensed someone looking at him, because he turned his head a little too, and when he saw me awake, he smiled brightly. I grinned back, but that was when I heard all the shouting as well, and it sounded like they were running towards the hospital wing.

"That's Fudge's voice," Mrs Weasley was saying, "And that's Minevra McGonagall's, isn't it? But what are they shouting about?"

"Regrettable, but at the time Minerva-" Cornelius Fudge was saying loudly.

"You should never have brought it inside the castle!" McGonagall yelled. "When Dumbledore finds out-"

I saw the doors to the hospital wing burst open. Unnoticed to any of the people around our beds, who were all staring at the door, even Angel and Gazzy who were still on the bottom of my bed, I sent up a little bit, leaning on my elbows. I saw Harry sitting up and putting on his glasses out of the corner of my eye.

Fudge came striding up the ward, McGonagall and Snape at his heels.

"Where's Dumbledore?" Fudge demanded.

"He's not here," Mrs Weasley said.

"Obviously," Nudge added under her breath, but I still heard her. I couldn't help but grin.

"This is a hospital wing," Mrs Weasley continued, "Minister, don't you think you'd do better to-"

But the door opened again and Dumbledore came sweeping down the ward.

"What has happened?" Dumbledore asked sharply, looking from Fudge to McGonagall.

"Why are you disturbing these people? Minerva, I'm surprised at you- I asked you to stand guard over Barty Crouch-"

"There is no need to guard him any more Dumbledore!" McGonagall shouted. "The Minister has seen to that!"

I had never seen McGonagall so angry. She was trembling with fury, and her hands were balled into fists.

"When we told Mr Fudge that we had caught the Death Eater responsible for tonight's events," Snape said in a low voice, "he seemed to feel like his personal safety was in question. He insisted on summoning a dementor to accompany him to the castle. He brought it up to the office where Barty Crouch-"

"I told him you wouldn't approve of it, Albus!" McGonagall fumed. "I told him you would never allow a dementor into the school grounds after what happened last year, but-"

"My dear woman," Fudge roared, so loud that it made my head pound and I winced, "as Minister of Magic, it is my decision whether I wish to bring protection with me while interviewing dangerous-"

But Professor McGonagall's voice drowned out Fudge's.

"The moment that- that thing entered the room," she screamed, pointing at Fudge, trembling, "it swooped down onto Crouch and- and-"

I felt a chill through my stomach as McGonagall struggled to find words for what happened next, but I did not need her to finish the sentence. The dementors had administered the Kiss to Barty Crouch. It had sucked it's soul of of his body. He was worse than dead.

"By all accounts, he is of no loss," Fudge blustered, his face redder than a tomato. "He's been responsible for several deaths."

"But now he cannot give testimony, Cornelius," Dumbledore said, sounding like he just wanted to slap Fudge. Well, I didn't blame him. "He cannot give evidence about why he killed those people."

"Why he killed them? Well that's no mystery!" Fudge cried. "He was a lunatic. A raving, murderous lunatic. From what Minerva and Severus have told me, he seems to have thought he was doing the whole thing under You-Know-Who's orders!"

"Lord Voldemort was giving him instructions, Cornelius," Dumbledore said. "Those deaths were mere by-products to bring Voldemort back to full strength again. The plan has worked. Voldemort has restored his body."

Fudge looked as if someone hit him in the head. Dazed and blinking, he stared at Dumbledore as if he couldn't believe what he just heard. He began to stutter, still staring at Dumbledore.

"You-Know-Who...returned? Preposterous! Come now, Dumbledore..."

"As Minerva and Severus have doubtless told you," Dumbledore said, "we heard Crouch confess. Under the influence of Veriteserum, he told us how he was smuggled out of Azkaban, and how Voldemort, learning of his continued existence from Bertha Jorkins- went to free him from his father and used him to capture Harry and Max. The plan worked, I tell you. Crouch helped Voldemort return."

"See here, Dumbledore," Fudge said, and I was shocked to see a smile spread across his face, "you can't seriously believe that You-Know-Who has returned? Come now, come now... certainly, Crouch may have believed himself to be acting off You-Know-Who's instructions- but to just take the word of a lunatic, Dumbledore..."

"Crouch rendered Max unconscious, and brought her Voldemort. When Harry touched the Triwizard Cup, he was taken straight to Voldemort too," Dumbledore said. "They both witnessed Lord Voldemort's rebirth. I will explain everything to you if you will step up to my office."

Dumbledore looked around, and when he saw that me and Harry were awake, he shook his head. "I cannot permit you to question Harry and Max tonight."

Fudge's curious smile lingered. He looked around too, and saw that we were both awake. He looked back at Dumbledore and said, "You are- er- prepared to take Maximum's and Harry's word on this, Dumbledore?"

There was a moment of silence, which was broken by Sirius growling. His hackles were raised, and he was baring his teeth at Fudge.

"Of course I believe them," Dumbledore said, his eyes blazing. "I heard Crouch's confession, and heard Harry and Max's account of what happened; the two stories together make sense. It explains everything that has happened since Bertha Jorkins disappeared last summer."

Fudge still had that strange smile on his lips. Once again, he glanced at me and Harry before continuing.

"You are prepared to believe that Lord Voldemort has returned, based on the story of a lunatic murderer, and two children who... well..."

Fudge shot up another look.

"You've been reading Rita Skeeter, haven't you, Mr Fudge?" Harry said quietly, and I understood what Fudge was implying. He thought me and Harry were insane as well.

The flock, Ron, Hermione, Mrs Weasley and Bill all jumped, not realising that me and Harry were awake.

Fudge reddened, but a defiant look came over his face.

"And if I have?" he said, looking at Dumbledore. "Fair enough, I knew that the children with the wings before they started here, but I discover that you've been keeping facts about Harry and Max a secret? A Parselmouth, eh? And what about Sirius Black being the girls father? Never thought that was important, that her father is a cold-blooder killer?" Sirius growled even louder and moved closer to my bed. "And having funny turns all over the place-"

"I assume you are referring to the pains Harry has been experiencing in his scar? And the odd little panic attack Max got once?"

"You admit that he has been having these pains then?" Fudge said quickly. "Headaches, nightmares? Possibly hallucinations? And her-" he said, pointing at me, "Having panic attacks, freaking out in the middle of a class?"

"Listen to me," Dumbledore said, taking a step towards Fudge, and once again I got the sense that he was radiating power, just like when we were walking up to the castle. "Harry and Max are both as sane as you and I. That scar on Harry's back and those wings on Max's back, and all those experiments she went through as a child, have not addles their brains. I believe Harry's scar hurts him when Lord Voldemort is close, or when he is feeling particularly murderous. As for Max, I believe she just suffered the one panic attack while sitting in a very hot, stuffy room."

"Fair enough for the girl, but you'll have to forgive me Dumbledore, but I've never heard of a scar acting an alarm bell before-"

"Look, we both saw Voldemort come back!" I snapped. I tried to climb out of bed, but Bill forced me back. "We saw the Death Eaters! We can give you their names! Lucius Malfoy-"

Snape made a sudden movement, but when I looked at him, Snape's eyes flew back to Fudge.

"Malfoy was cleared!" Fudge said. "A very old family- donations to excellent causes-"

"So just because they've donated to good causes, you're going to overlook the fact that he tortured me?" I shouted, moving to jump out of the bed again, but Bill pushed me down again, and this time kept his hand on my shoulder.

Fudge didn't know what to say to that, so I took his silence as an opportunity, while ignoring the shocked looks of everyone else in the room.

"Macnair!" I continued.

"Also cleared by the Ministry! Now he's working for us!"

"Avery- Nott- Crabbe- Goyle-" Harry continued, listing off all the names we could remember.

"You are both merely repeating the names of those who were accused of being Death Eaters thirteen years ago!" Fudge said loudly. "You could of found any of those names in the old reports of the trials! For heavens sake, Dumbledore- those two and their friends were full of some other crackpot story at the end of last year too- their tales are getting larger and larger, and you're still swallowing them- the boy can talk to snakes, and the girl has wings, you still think they're trustworthy?"

"You fool!" McGonagall cried. "What about Cedric Diggory! Barty Crouch Senior! These deaths were not the mere work of a lunatic!"

"I see no evidence of the contrary!" shouted Fudge, making me wince again as my head throbbed, but he didn't seem to care. "It's seems to me that you are all just trying to start an unnecessary panic that will destroy everything we've spent the last thirteen years trying to rebuild!"

I couldn't freaking believe this. "You think we're making this up? You think it's just a story me and Harry made up for attention? Then how the hell did I break my wrist and ribs? What happened to Harry's leg? And who killed Cedric? It couldn't have been Crouch, because he was patrolling the edge of the maze, looking like Moody, where everyone could see him."

I turned to the other people in the room. "Did he disappear long enough to murder and torture people? Or was he patrolling the maze the whole time?"

"He was at the maze the whole time," Mrs Weasley and McGonagall said.

Fudge blustered, "I don't have time for this!" He was about to turn and leave but Dumbledore spoke up and stopped him.

"Voldemort is back," Dumbledore said, "if you accept that straightaway, Fudge, and take the necessary measure and precautions, we will be able to save the situation. The first and most essential step is to remove the dementors from Azkaban-"

"Preposterous!" Fudge said. He really seemed to like that word. "Remove the dementors? I'd be kicked out of office for suggesting that! Half of us only feel safe in our beds at night because we know the dementors are guarding Azkaban!"

"And the other half will sleep less soundly in our beds, Cornelius, knowing that Voldemort's most dangerous supporters are in the hands of creatures who will join his side the second he asks them to! They will not remain loyal to you, Fudge! Voldemort can offer them much more scope for their powers and their pleasure than you can! With the dementors on his side, and his old, biggest supporters behind him, you will be hard-pressed to stop him regaining the power he had thirteen years ago!"

Fudge was opening and closing his mouth, looking like a fish, as though no words could express him outrage.

"The second step you must take- and immediately," Dumbledore went on, "is to send envoys to the giants."

"Envoy to the giants?" Fudge shrieked. "What madness is this?"

"Give them the hand of friendship, Cornelius, before it's too late," Dumbledore said, "or Voldemort will recruit them like he did before."

"You- you must be joking," Fudge gasped, shaking his head and walking further away from Dumbledore. "If the magical community knew that I had approached the giants- people hate and fear them, Dumbledore- it'll be the end of my career."

"So you're job means more to you than the lives of hundreds of innocent people?" Fang said, speaking up for the first time. "What kind of Minister are you?"

"You are blinded, Cornelius," Dumbledore said, his voice rising, his eyes blazing again, "by the love you have for the office you hold! You place too much importance, as you have always done, on the so-called purity of magical blood! You fail to recognise that it is not what someone is born, but what they grow to be! Your precious dementor has just destroyed the last remaining family member of a pure-blooded family as old as any- and see what that man did with his life! I tell you now, take the steps I have recommended, and you will be remembered in the Ministry, and in the magical world, as one of the bravest Minsters of Magic we have ever had. Fail to act- and history will remember you as the man who stepped aside and let Voldemort the second chance to destroy the world we have rebuild!"

"Insane," Fudge whispered, all colour drained from his face, "completely mad..."

Then there was silence. Madam Pomfrey was standing in the middle of mine and Harry's bed, her hand covering her mouth. Bill was still standing over, his hand still on my shoulder. I saw that Mrs Weasley had done the same to Harry. Everyone else was staring at Fudge.

"If your determination to shut your eyes and not see the truth will carry you as far as this," Dumbledore said, "then we have reached a parting of ways. You must act as you see fit, and I shall act as I see fit."

Dumbledore's voice carried no hint of a threat. It was merely a statement, but Fudge reacted as if Dumbledore threatened to throw his out the window...That's actually not a bad idea... Throwing Cornelius Fudge out the window...

"Now see here Dumbledore," he said, waving a threatening finger, "I've always given you free rein, over anything. I've had a lot of respect for you. I might not have agreed with some of your methods or decisions, but I've held my tongue. There aren't many people that would let you hire werewolves, or keep Hagrid around, or decide what you teach your students without reference to the Ministry, or even agree to let six winged children from America attend the school. But if you're going to work against me-"

"The only one I intend to work against," Dumbledore said, "is Lord Voldemort. If you are against him, then we remain on the same side, Cornelius."

It seemed as if Fudge didn't know what to say next. Thank God. This guy was starting to annoy me more than Lockhart did, and that's saying something.

Fudge just rocked backward and forward on his small feet for a moment and spun his stupid bowler hat between his fingers. Finally, he said, with a hint of pleading in his voice, "He can't be back, Dumbledore... he can't..."

Snape strode forward, past Dumbledore, and he pulled up the left sleeve of his robe. He stuck out his forearm to Fudge, who cringed and recoiled.

"There," Snape said harshly. "There. The Dark Mark. It's not as clear as it was an hour ago, but you can still see it. Every Death Eater has this sign burned into him by the Dark Lord. It was a means of distinguishing each other, and his means of summoning them to him. When he touched the Mark of any Death Eater, they were to Apparate instantly, to his side. This Mark has been growing clearer and clearer all year. Karkaroff's too. Why else would Karkaroff flee tonight? We both felt the Mark burn. We knew that he had returned. Karkaroff fears the Dark Lord and his vengeance. He betrayed too many other Death Eaters."

Fudge stepped away from Snape too. He was shaking his head. He didn't seem to have taken in a word Snape said. He stared disgustingly at the Mark on Snape's arm, then looked up at Dumbledore and whispered, "I don't know what you are your staff are playing at, Dumbledore, but I've certainly heard enough. I have nothing else to say. I will be in contact with you tomorrow to discuss the running of this school. Now, I must return to the Ministry."

He had almost reached the door when he stopped, and strode back again, stopping at Harry's bed.

"Your winnings," he said, taking a large bag of gold from his pocket and dropping it on Harry's bedside table. "One thousand Galleons. There would of been a presentation ceremony, but given the circumstances..."

He put his bowler hat onto his head and walked out of the room, slamming the door behind him. The moment he was gone, Dumbledore turned to look at the group around the two beds.

"There is a lot of work to be done," he said, "Molly, am I right in thinking that I can count on you and Arthur?"

Mrs Weasley nodded. "Of course you can," she said. "We know what Fudge is. It's Arthur's fondness of Muggles that's kept him back in Ministry all these years. Fudge thinks he lacks proper wizard pride."

"Then I need you to send a message to Arthur," Dumbledore said. "All those that can be persuaded to believe the truth must be told straight away, and he is well placed to contact those in the Ministry who aren't a narrow minded as Fudge."

"I'll go to Dad," Bill said, letting go of my shoulder and standing up straight. "I'll go now."

"Excellent," Dumbledore said. "Tell him what happened, and that I'll be in contact with him myself later. He will need to be discreet though, if Fudge starts to believe that I am interfering at the Ministry..."

"Leave it to me," Bill said. He kissed his mother on the cheek, then strode quickly from the room.

"Minerva," Dumbledore said, turning to McGonagall, "I want to see Hagrid in my office as soon as possible. And Madam Maxime if you can persuade her to come."

McGonagall nodded and left the ward.

"Poppy," Dumbledore said to Madam Pomfrey, "would you be so kind to go down to Professor's Moody's office, where you should find a very distressed house- elf called Winky. Do what you can for her, and take her back to the kitchens. I think Dobby should look after her then for us."

"Very- very well," Madam Pomfrey said, and after giving me and Harry a last check over, she left.

Dumbledore make sure that the door was closed, and that Madam Pomfrey's footsteps had died away, before speaking again.

"And now," he said, "it's time for two of our number to meet each other. Sirius, if you could resume your original form."

The big black dog looked up at Dumbledore, then turned back into a man.

"Aaahhh!" Mrs Weasley screamed, leaping back from the bed. "Sirius Black!"

"Mum, shut up!" Ron yelled. "It's okay!"

Snape hadn't yelled or jumped backwards, but the look on his face was of mingled fury and horror.

"Him!" he snarled, staring at Sirius, whose face showed equal dislike, "What's he doing here?"

"Well seeing as my daughter and godson are injured," Sirius said, "I think I have to be here."

"Sirius is here on invitation," Dumbledore said before a fight could break out between the two, "as are you, Severus. I trust the two of you. I think it is time to lay aside your old differences and trust each other too."

I thought Dumbledore was asking for a miracle. Sirius and Snape were still eyeing each other with nothing but hate in their eyes.

"I will settle, for now," Dumbledore said, a hint of impatience in his voice, "for a lack of open hostility. You will shake hands. You are on the same side now. Time is short, and unless the few of us who do know the truth do not stand united, there is not hope for any of us."

Extremely slowly- but still glaring at each other- Sirius and Snape moved towards each other and shook hands. They let go extremely quickly.

"That's a start," Dumbledore muttered, stepping between them. "Now, I have work for each of you. Fudge's attitude changes everything. Sirius, I need you to leave at once. You are to alert Remus, Arabella Figg, Mundungus Fletcher - the old crowd. Lie low at Lupin's for a while; I will contact you there."

"No-"

"But-"

Both me and Harry started protesting weakly. I didn't want to have to say goodbye again so soon.

"You'll see me very soon," Sirius said, smiling at the two of us. "I promise. But I have to do what I can, understand?" he said, looking between me and Harry.

"Yeah," I said.

"Of course," Harry said.

Sirius gave Harry a brief hug, and then kissed my forehead. He nodded to Dumbledore, then transformed again into the black dog, and ran from the room. Then he was gone.

"Severus," Dumbledore said, turning to Snape, "you know what I must ask you to do... If you are ready, if you are prepared..."

"I am," Snape said.

He looked slightly paler than usual, and I noticed that his hands were shaking slightly, and his black eyes were glittering strangely.

"Then good luck," Dumbledore said, and he watched as Snape left the hospital wing, following Sirius.

It was several minutes before Dumbledore spoke again.

"I must go downstairs," he said, "I must see the Diggorys. Harry, Max- take the rest of your potion. I will see all of you later."

I slumped back against my pillows once Dumbledore was gone. Mrs Weasley, Ron, Hermione and the flock were all looking between me and Harry. No one spoke for a long time.

"You two should take the rest of the potion," Iggy said. I stared at him, surprised. Then I remembered that Iggy wanted to be a Healer.

"You two have a nice, long sleep. Try and think about something else for a while. Think about what you're going to buy with your winnings, Harry!"

"I don't want that gold," Harry muttered in an expressionless voice. "You have it. Anyone can have it. I don't it. I shouldn't have won it. Cedric should have won it."

I looked over at Harry and saw that his brilliant green eyes were filling with tears. I'd never seen Harry cry before.

"It wasn't your fault, Harry," Mrs Weasley said kindly, "not what happened with Cedric, or Max."

He blamed himself for what happened to me? Noble idiot.

"I told him to take the cup with me," Harry said.

I felt a lump rising in my throat, and my eyes prickling. I was close to crying now too. I could see it happening all over again- Cedric's lifeless eyes, Voldemort's red eyes staring at me from the shadows, his evil smile as he listening to me scream, to Harry scream...

Then I felt arms all around me. I tensed and opened my eyes, but saw that it was only the flock. Fang, Iggy, Nudge, the Gasman and Angel had all climbed onto my bed and were all doing some huge group hug thing. I put my arms around Fang, as he was the closest to me, and buried my head into his shoulder, letting a few tears fall from my eyes and down my cheeks. After a few minutes, I wiped my eyes and my tears, not wanting to break down here, not now. But I still kept my arms around Fang, and the flock never let go of me. But how the six of us managed to fit on that little bed, I will never know.

There was a loud slamming noise, and I let go of Fang, and the others let go of me. I looked up to see Hermione standing beside one of the windows, holding something tight in her hand.

"Sorry," she whispered.

I looked around and saw that Harry and Mrs Weasley must of been hugging like me and the flock.

Mrs Weasley stood up, wiping her eyes. She picked up our potions and handed them to us. "Drink all of it," she said, smiling at us kindly.

I drank it in one gulp. The effect was immediate. Heavy, irresistible waves of sleep washed over me. The last thing I remember before falling asleep was feeling the flock still huddled around me.

* * *

><p><em><strong>And there it is folks. There shall be Marry Hax in the next chapter. **_

_**Speaking of which, which one sounds better? Hax or Marry? **_

_**Hope you all enjoyed this looooong chapter that took me all day to write. Just be glad that I don't have a life... :) **_

_**There is one more chapter left, which I will probably start writing when I get back from London. **_

_**CAN WE MAKE IT TO 500 REVIEWS BEFORE THEN?! I THINK WE CAN! :D**_

_**Question: anyone here watch Teen Wolf? if you do, who do you think is doing the sacrifices? I think there's something weird with their new teacher... **_

_**Anyway, as you know, if you want cookies and butterbeer, then you need to...**_

_**REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW! :D**_

_**Love you guys!**_

_**-Rach ;) **_


	35. This Is Just The Beginning

_**AUTHORS NOTE! :P**_

_**Well, my lovely readers, this is the last chapter :( **_

_**But I should have Year 5 started very soon, so don't worry. **_

_**I have loved writing Year 4, but I'm looking forward to writing Year 5. Out of all of them, I think Order of the Phoenix would be my favourite, even though I love them all. **_

_**LONDON WAS AMAZING! I love that city! And the Harry Potter studios was literally the best day of my life! I'm sure if any of you guys went, you'll know what I'm taking about! Everything was so amazing and beautiful and magical and I want to go back there hahaa :) **_

_**I got a very mixed reaction about Hax or Marry, so let's just go with both for now... I might do a poll or something, if I figure out how... **_

_**Now, I shall answer some reviews! **_

_**Arkell26: Did I really say that? Oops sorry! Yeah I know the scar is on Harry's head haha, that was just a mistake :)**_

_**gmbookworm: Thanks :D**_

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_**Random Person: Well, it was mostly girls that reviewed with their gender, some people didn't, but I think it's safe to say that I have more females reading this than males. I haven't played the 5-7 one, but I have 1-4 and it's awesome!**_

_**BethZ: Well they're on episode 8 now :P Have you watched all of season 2? As I said above, it was AMAZING! I really liked London, it's an awesome place. How did you like your stay?**_

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_**Now, on with the chapter! **_

_**Enjoy!**_

_**-Rach ;) **_

* * *

><p><em><strong>Max's POV <strong>_

When I looked back, even weeks later, I found that I only had a few scattered memories of the next few days. It was as though I had been through so much, that I simply couldn't take in any more.

What I could remember was quite painful. The worst was the meeting with Cedric's parents the next morning. Mr Diggory sobbed openly through the meeting, and Mrs Diggory's grief seemed to be beyond tears and sobbing. But they didn't blame me or Harry for Cedric's death. Actually, they thanks us both for bringing his body back to them.

"He didn't suffer much then," she said, when me and Harry told her what happened to Cedric.

"And after all, Amos...he died just after winning the tournament. He must have been very happy."

When they got to their feet, she looked down at the two of us and said, "You two look after yourselves, okay?"

I nodded, and managed a small smile, while Harry reached over to his bedside table and grabbed the sack of gold there.

"You take it," he muttered. "It should have been Cedric's, he got there first, you take it-"

But she just backed away. "Oh no, dear, it's yours... I couldn't... you keep it."

Me and Harry spent the rest of the evening in the hospital wing, and at the end of the evening, Hermione, Ron, Fang, Iggy and Nudge came to visit us.

We both returned to Gryffindor tower the next evening, completely healed (well, physically at least) and from what the others told us, Dumbledore had spoken to the school that morning at breakfast. He had merely requested that the other students leave me and Harry alone, and not to ask us questions on what happened. I noticed that most people were avoiding us in the corridors, trying not to make eye-contact. Some even whispered behind their hands as we passed. It was like when everyone found out about the wings all over again- but only ten times worse.

I guessed that most people believed Rita Skeeter's article about how dangerous and unstable we were. Maybe people were evening coming up with their own theories about how Cedric died. I was slightly surprised to find that I didn't even care. I liked it better when I was sitting with the flock, and Ron, Hermione and Harry. Neither of us had talked about what happened that night, and for that I was grateful.

It was like we had all reached some sort of understanding that we didn't need to put into words; that we were all waiting for something, some sign, or word, of what was happening outside Hogwarts- and that it was useless to speculate about what might be coming until we knew anything for sure. The only time we really talked about it was when Ron told Harry about a meeting Mrs Weasley had with Dumbledore before going back to the Burrow.

"She went to ask him if you could come straight back home with us this summer," Ron told us. "But he said that you have to go back to the Dursley's, at least for a few weeks first."

"Why?" I asked.

"Yeah, what's the point in that?" Harry asked. We made eye contact, and I looked away, my face pink. We hadn't talked to each other on our own properly since the kiss, and I wasn't sure what was going to happen. I was too scared to ask him about it, because I didn't want anything to happen to our friendship, but now it was always slightly awkward whenever we looked at each other, or walked too close to each other. It was starting to get frustrating.

Ron shrugged, bringing me away from my thoughts. "Dunno," he said, "she said Dumbledore has his reasons. I suppose we've got to trust him, haven't we?"

The only other person I felt like we could talk to was Hagrid.

As there was no longer a Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher, we all had those lessons free to do what we wanted. We used the free class on Thursday to go visit Hagrid in his cabin.

Hagrid's dog Fang bounded out of the open door as we walked over, barking and wagging his tail.

"Who's that?" Hagrid asked, coming to the door. "Harry! Max!"

He strode out to meet us and pulled me and Harry into big hugs, ruffling our hair and said, "Good ter see yeh, kids. Good ter see yeh."

We saw two bucket-size cups on the table when we walked in.

"Bin havin' a cuppa with Olympe," Hagrid said. "She's jus' left."

"With who?" Nudge asked.

"Madam Maxime, o' course!" Hagrid said, and I could of sworn he blushed.

"You two made up then, have you?" Iggy asked, sitting down at the table.

"Dunno what yeh're talkin' about," Hagrid said, fetching more cups from the dresser. When he made the tea and offered around a plate of cookies (that were surprisingly tasty) he leaned back in his chair and surveyed me and Harry through his beetle-black eyes.

"You two all righ'?" he asked.

"Yup," I said, popping the `p'.

"Yeah," Harry said.

"No, yeh're not," Hagrid said, and I looked up at him, surprised. "Course yeh're not. But yeh will be. Eventually."

Me and Harry looked at each other. We didn't say anything.

"Knew he was going to come back," Hagrid said, and me, Harry, Ron, Hermione, Fang, Iggy and Nudge looked up at him, shocked. "Known it fer years. Knew he was out there, bidin' his time, gettin' stronger. It had ter happen sometime. Well, now it has, an' we'll just have ter go with it. We'll fight. Migh' be able to stop him before he get's a good hold anywhere. That's Dumbledore's plan anyway. Great man, Dumbledore. S'long as we've got him, I ain't too worried."

Hagrid raised his bushy eyebrows at our disbelieving expressions.

"No good sittin' worryin' abou' it," he said. "What's comin' will come, an' we'll meet it when we does. Dumbledore told me what you two did, Harry, Max." Hagrid's chest swelled as he looked at us both.

"Yeh did as much as yer parents would of done, the both of yeh, an' I can't imagine a higher praise than that."

I smiled back at him. It was the first time I smiled properly in days.

"What did Dumbledore ask you to do, Hagrid?" Harry asked. "He sent Professor McGonagall to get you and Madam Maxime to meet him- that night."

"Got a little job fer me over the summer," Hagrid said. "Secret though. I'm not s'pposed ter talk about it, not even ter you lot. Olympe- Madam Maxime ter you- might be comin' with me. I think she will. Think I persuaded her."

"Is it to do with Voldemort?" I asked.

Hagrid flinched at the name.

"Migh' be," he said slowly. "Now... who'd like ter come visit the las' skrewt with me? I was jokin'- jokin'!" he added, chuckling at the looks on our faces.

It was with a heavy heart that I packed my clothes into my trunk, and my guitar into my case in the dormitory the night before leaving Hogwarts. I wasn't looking forward to the Leaving Feast, which was usually for celebration, when the Inter-House Championship would be announced. Both me and Harry would avoid going to the Great Hall when it was crowded ever since we left the hospital wing, preferring to eat in silence and without the stares of the other students.

When we all entered the Hall, we saw that the usual decorations weren't there. The Great Hall was normally decorated in the colours of the winning House for the Leaving Feast, but not this time. This time, there were black drapes decorated around the Hall. I knew instantly that they were there as a mark of respect to Cedric.

The real Mad-Eye Moody was at the staff table, his wooden leg and fake eye back in place. He was twitchy, jumping every time someone spoke to him. I couldn't say I blamed him- his paranoia and fear to being attacked must have increased by his ten month imprisonment in his own trunk. I noticed that Professor Karkaroff's chair was empty. As I sat down, I wondered where Karkaroff was now, and whether or not Voldemort had caught up with him.

Madam Maxime was still there, sitting next to Hagrid. They were talking quietly to each other. Further along the table, sitting beside Professor McGonagall was Snape. He eyes flickered between me and Harry for a while. His expression was hard to read, but he looked just as sour and unpleasant as ever. I continued to watch him, long after Snape looked away.

I looked down at the table. What was it Snape had done on Dumbledore orders the night Voldemort came back? And why the hell was Dumbledore so willing to believe that Snape was on our side, was to be trusted? Dumbledore had said in the Pensieve that Snape was a spy, that he had turned against Voldemort, `at great personal risk'. Was that what he had to do again? Was he a spy once more?

My musings were ended when Dumbledore stood up at the staff table. The Great Hall, which was quieter than usual, fell silent.

"The end," Dumbledore said, "of another year."

He paused, and his non-twinkling eyes fell upon the Hufflepuff table. Theirs had been the most subdued table before he got to his feet, and theirs were the saddest faces in the Hall.

"There is much I would like to say to you all tonight," Dumbledore went on, "but I must first acknowledge the loss of a very fine person, who should be sitting right there looking forward to the summer holidays," he gestured towards the Hufflepuffs, "and enjoying the feast with us. I would like you all, please, to stand and raise your glasses to Cedric Diggory."

We all did it, all of us; the benches scraped as everyone in the Hall stood, and raised our goblets, and echoed in one, loud, low, rumbling voice, "Cedric Diggory."

I caught a glance of Cho through the crowd. There were tears pouring down her face. I looked back down to the table as we sat down again.

"Cedric was a person who projected many of the qualities that distinguish Hufflepuff house," Dumbledore continued, "He was a good and loyal friend, he valued fair play, he was a hard worker. I can see here now, that his death has affected every one of you, whether you knew him well or not. This is why I believe you have the right to know exactly how he died."

I raised my head and looked at Dumbledore. Beside me, Harry was staring at him too, a slight frown on his face.

"Cedric Diggory was murdered by Lord Voldemort."

A panicked whisper swept through the Great Hall. People were staring at Dumbledore in shock, disbelief, and horror. However, Dumbledore looked perfectly calm as he watched us whisper ourselves into silence.

"The Ministry of Magic," Dumbledore continued, "does not wish me to tell you this. It is possible that some of your parents will be shocked and horrified that I have done so- because they believe that Lord Voldemort has no returned, or because they do not want me to tell you this, young as you are. I believe, however, that the truth is preferable to lies, and any attempt made by anyone to pretend that Cedric's death was an accident, or some sort of blunder of his own, would be an insult to his memory."

Stunned and scared, every face was turned towards Dumbledore... or nearly every face. Fang tapped my elbow and when I looked at him, he nodded towards the Slytherin table. I saw Malfoy muttering something to Crabbe and Goyle. I felt a hot, sick swoop of anger in my stomach. Before looking back to Dumbledore, I saw that Harry had noticed as well, and his fists were clenched tightly on his lap.

Without looking at him, I reached over and took Harry's hand, linking my fingers through his. At first, Harry didn't react, his hand was just limp in mine, but then he tightened his hold, and started rubbing circles over my knuckles with his thumb. I tried to ignore the fact that I instantly felt a hundred times better.

"There are two other people who must be mentioned in connection to Cedric's death."

I tightened my grip. He wasn't going to mention us. He couldn't. Not right now. Not in front of _everyone. _

Dumbledore went on. "I am talking about Harry Potter and Maximum Ride, of course."

You've got to be kidding me.

A kind of ripple went through the Great Hall as a few heads turned to get a good look in our direction before flickering back to Dumbledore. I didn't even bother trying to hide the fact that me and Harry were holding hands.

"Harry Potter and Maximum Ride escaped from Lord Voldemort," Dumbledore said. "They risked their lives to return Cedric's body back to Hogwarts. They both showed, in their own ways, the sort of bravery that few wizards had ever shown in facing Lord Voldemort, and for this, I honour them."

Dumbledore turned gravely towards us, and raised his goblet again. Nearly everyone in the Great Hall followed suit. They muttered our names, as they had Cedric's, then they drank to us. I felt wrong about it. Cedric was dead and they were drinking to us, especially after drinking to him just moments earlier they had done the same to him.

I noticed that Malfoy, Crabbe, Goyle, and many of the other Slytherin's remained in their seats, their goblets left untouched. Dumbledore didn't seem to notice.

When everyone had resumed their seats, Dumbledore went on. "The aim of the Triwizard Tournament was to further and promote magical understanding. In the light of what has happened- the return of Lord Voldemort- such ties are more important than ever."

Dumbledore looked around at Madam Maxime, and Hagrid, to Fleur and her fellow Beauxbatons students, to Viktor Krum and the Durmstrangs at the Slytherin table. I noticed that Krum was looking wary, almost frightened, as though he expected Dumbledore to say something harsh.

"Every guest in this Hall," Dumbledore said, his eyes lingering upon the Durmstrang students, "will be welcomed back here at any time, whenever they please, should they wish to come. I say to you all, again- in the light of Lord Voldemort's return, we are only as strong as we are united, as weak as we are divided. Lord Voldemort's gift for spreading discord and enmity is very great. We can fight it only by showing an equally strong bond of friendship and trust. Differences of language and habit are absolutely nothing at all if our aims aren't the same and our hearts aren't open.

"I believe that we are all facing dark and dangerous times. Some of you in this Hall have suffered directly at the hands of Lord Voldemort, and some of you have suffered greatly at different hands," at this, his gaze lingered on the flock. "A week ago, a student was taken from our midst. Remember Cedric. Remember, if the time comes when you have to make a choice between what is right and what is easy, remember what happened to a boy who was honest, and true, brave and kind, because he strayed into the path of Lord Voldemort. Remember Cedric Diggory."

My trunk was packed; Freedom was back in his cage on top my guitar case. We were all waiting in the entrance hall with the rest of the fourth years for the carriages that would take us back to Hogsmeade station.

"'Arry!"

Fleur Delacour was hurrying up the stone steps of the castle. Behind her, way across the grounds, I saw Hagrid helping Madam Maxime put the giant horses back into their harnesses. The Beauxbatons carriage was about to take off.

"We will see each uzzer again, I'ope," said Fleur as she reached Harry, holding our her hand. "I am 'oping to get a job 'ere, to improve my Eenglish."

"It's very good already," Ron said in a strangled sort of voice. Fleur smiled at him and Hermione scowled.

"Good-bye, 'Arry!" Fleur said, giving Harry a quite hug. I tried to ignore the way my stomach churned when he hugged her back. "It 'az been a pleasure meeting you!" Then she hurried back across the lawns towards the carriage.

"Wonder how the Durmstrang students are getting back," Iggy said, "D'you reckon they can steer that ship without Karkaroff?"

"Karkaroff did not steer," said a gruff voice. "He stayed in his cabin and let us do the work."

Krum had come to say goodbye to Hermione. "Could I have a vord?" he asked.

"Oh...yes...all right..." Hermione said, looking flustered, and followed Krum through the crowd and out of sight.

Harry stared after them, then he turned to me. "I need to talk to you."

My eyes widened. Was it about the kiss? Was he going to say that it was too awkward now?

I nodded. "Yeah. Okay."

I followed Harry through the crowd, with Ron shouting behind us, "You'd better hurry up! The carriages will be here in a minute!" But whether he was shouting at me and Harry, or Hermione, I don't know.

Harry lead me away from the crowd, and when he made sure no one could hear us, he stopped and turned to me.

"We need to talk," he said, rushed.

I raised my eyebrows. "Yeah, I gathered that."

Harry blushed. "Yeah well... It's about...eh... you know..."

It was my turn to blush. "The... kiss?"

Harry nodded. Then he blurted, "Do you like me? I mean, that way?"

I blushed even deeper. "Eh... Well, I guess I do... I mean yeah, yeah I do... Why, do you like me? That way?"

Harry nodded. "Yeah I do. You're amazing Max. And when we kissed... And I was going to ask you out and everything, but after what happened..."

I frowned. "What do you mean?"

Harry looked down at his feet. "I don't think we should be together. Not that way. We can still be friends, but nothing more. Not for now, at least. Not with Voldemort back..."

I stared at him, my mouth hanging open. "Really? That's your reason? Because Voldy came back?" He nodded. I closed my eyes and sighed.

"You're such a noble prat," I said, laughing a little. I opened my eyes and saw Harry grinning, but the smile didn't reach his brilliant green eyes.

"It's make sense, right? It'll keep you safer. All the stuff that happened to you since we became friends, what do you think would happen if you were my girlfriend?"

"You think all that happened just because we were friends?" I said. "No, Harry, all that happened because I care about you and I chose to be with you during all that crazy crap. _I _chose to do that, no one else. Yeah, okay, I didn't choose to open the Chamber of Secrets, but that doesn't count! It doesn't matter whether we were going out or not, that still would of happened!"

Harry sighed. "I'm sorry Max. I just think this will be safer for all of us. But let's make a deal, okay?"

I frowned. "What kind of deal?"

"If we're both single when Voldemort goes down, we'll be together. If not, we'll try our hardest to be happy for each other. Deal?"

I smirked. "Deal." I stuck my hand out for him to shake it, but instead, he pulled me into a tight hug, his arms wrapped warmly around my waist, just under my wings. I wrapped my arms around his neck and tried to ignore the butterflies in my stomach.

When we let go of each other, I saw that Hermione and Krum had returned to the others, and they must have asked where me and Harry were because Iggy pointed over in our direction, but they couldn't actually see us with all the other students around.

"We should go back before they start thinking we're up to something," I said, starting to walk back to the others. But Harry grabbed the sleeve to my robe and pulled me back, then he kissed my cheek.

"I really am sorry. But I do think this is for the best," he said, his lips still against my cheek, making my heart race in my chest.

I nodded. "I know. And it probably is for the best," I said, trying to stop my voice from shaking. Why did this boy have this effect on me?

Harry pulled away from me (I tried not to feel disappointed) and smiled. "Come on. We don't want to miss the carriages."

So we walked back to the others, feeling slightly sad but also strangely relieved and happy.

We reached the others just as Fang was asking Krum whether they had a new headmaster yet.

Krum shrugged. "I do not know. Probably von't know until we go back."

Then he turned to Harry and said bluntly, "I liked Diggory. He vos alvays polite to me. Alvays. Even though I vas from Durmstrang- with Karkaroff," he said, scowling. He held out his hand like Fleur had done, shook Harry's hand, than all of our hands, Ron looking like he was suffering from some sort of painful internal struggle.

Krum had already turned around and was walking away when Ron burst out, "Can I have your autograph?"

I grinned, and saw Hermione turning her head, smiling, at the horseless carriages that were now coming up the lawn, as Krum, looking both surprised by gratified, signed a piece of parchment for Ron.

As we walked to the carriages, Hermione let the boys go ahead, then whispered to me, "What happened with you and Harry?" I had told her the first night I was back at the dormitory that me and Harry had kissed, but she hadn't brought it up since then.

"Later," I muttered, and gave her a smile to know that whatever it was, I wasn't upset.

There wasn't a single cloud in the sky on the way back to King's Cross. The six of us, plus Nudge, managed to get a compartment all to ourselves.

Pigwidgeon was once again under Ron's dress robes to muffle his hooting; Hedwig, Freedom, Grenade and Stygian were all sleeping in their cages, and Crookshanks was curled up on Nudge's lap like a big, fluffy ginger cushion. Me, Fang, Iggy and Nudge all had our wings out as much as we could without suffocating anyone.

We all talked more freely and fully than we had all week. I felt as though Dumbledore's speech as the Feast had unblocked me. It wasn't as painful to talk about had happened. We broke off our conversation about what Dumbledore might be doing, even now, to stop Voldemort, when the lunch trolley rolled around.

When Hermione returned from the trolley and put her money back in her school bag, she dislodged a copy of the Daily Prophet that had been in the bag. I saw Harry looking at it uncertainly, and so did Hermione because she said, "There's nothing in there. You can look yourself, but there is literally nothing. I've been checking it everyday. Just a tiny piece the day after the task saying you won the tournament. They didn't even mention Cedric. Nothing about you. If you ask me, I think Fudge is trying to keep everything quiet."

"He'll never keep Skeeter quiet," Iggy said, "Not with something like this."

"Oh, Rita hasn't written anything since the third task," Hermione said, her brown eyes twinkling. "As a matter of fact," she added, her voice trembling slightly, "Rita Skeeter won't be writing anything for a long time, not unless she wants me to spill the beans on her."

"What's are you talking about?" Harry asked.

"I figured out how she's been listening in on private conversations, and being in places where she shouldn't," Hermione said in a rush.

I got the impression that Hermione had been dying to tell us all for days, but had restrained herself in light of what had happened.

"Well? How was she doing it?" I asked.

"How'd you find out?" Fang said.

"Well it was really you, Fang, that gave me the idea," she said.

Fang's dark eye's widened slightly. "Me? What did I do?"

"Bugging," Hermione said happily.

"But you said that didn't work-"

"Not electronic bugs," Hermione said, "No, you see... Rita Skeeter,"- Hermione's voice trembled with triumph, "is an unregistered Animagus. She can turn-"

Hermione pulled a small sealed glass jar from her bag.

"-into a beetle."

"You're kidding," I said. "You've had that in our room since the night of the task! I thought you just found a random beetle and decided to keep it!"

Hermione grinned, brandishing the jar at us. Inside were a few twigs and leaves, and one large, fat beetle.

"That's never... you're joking..." Ron whispered, lifting the jar to his eyes.

"No, I'm not," Hermione said, beaming. "I caught her on the windowsill in the hospital wing. Look really closely, and you'll notice the markings around her antennae are the same as those foul glasses she wears."

"There was a beetle on the statue the night we heard Hagrid talking to Madam Maxime about his mum!" Harry said.

I gasped. "The night I told Ethan about us, there was a beetle around my shoes. As soon as I started talking about the School and everything, it stopped moving. I thought it just died or something."

"Exactly," Hermione said, smiling. "And Viktor pulled a beetle out of my hair after we'd had our conversation by the lake. And unless I'm mistaken, Rita was sitting on the windowsill on the Divination classroom that day. She's been buzzing around looking for stories all year."

"When we saw Malfoy under that tree..." Ron said slowly.

"He was talking to her, in his hand," Hermione said. "He knew, of course he did. That's how she's been getting all those nice little interviews with the Slytherins. They wouldn't care if she was doing something illegal, and long as they were giving her horrible things to write about us and Hagrid."

Hermione took the glass jar back from Ron and smiled at the beetle, which buzzed angrily against the glass.

"I've told her I'll let her out as soon as we get back to London," Hermione said, putting the jar back into her bag. "I've put an Unbreakable Charm on the jar, so she can't transform. And I've told her she has to keep her quill to herself for a whole year, see if she can break that terrible habit of writing lies about innocent people."

The door of the compartment slide open.

"Very clever, Granger," Malfoy said.

Crabbe and Goyle, the stalkers that they were, were standing behind him. All three of them looked more pleased with themselves, more arrogant and more menacing than I've ever seen them.

And the fact that Draco's own father had tortured me was at the very front of my mind.

"So," Malfoy said slowly, advancing into our compartment and looking around us, a smirk on his pale face. "You've caught some pathetic reporter, Potter and Ride are Dumbledore's favourites again. Big deal."

His smirk widened. Crabbe and Goyle leered.

"Trying not to think about it, are we?" Malfoy said softly, looking around at all of us. "Trying to pretend it never happened?"

"Get out," I said standing up.

I hadn't been this close to Malfoy since I saw him muttering to Crabbe and Goyle at Dumbledore's speech about Cedric. I gripped my wand under my robes.

"You've all picked the losing side! Remember, Potter, I warned you! I told you to stay away from these kind of people. When we met on the train, first day of Hogwarts? I told you not to go making friends with the wrong sort of people like this," she said, pointing to the flock, Ron and Hermione. "Too late now, Potter! They'll be the first to go, now that the Dark Lord's back! Mudbloods, Muggle-lovers and freaks first! Well- second- Diggory was first-"

It was as though someone had exploded a box of fireworks in the compartment. Blinded by the blaze of the spells that had blasted from every direction, deafened by a series of bangs, I blinked and looked down at the floor.

Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle were all lying on the ground, unconscious. Me, Fang, Iggy, Nudge, Harry, Ron and Hermione were on our feet, all of us having used a different hex. Most of us missed though, judging by the marks on the wall opposite the compartment. But we weren't the only ones to have hexed them.

"Thought we'd see what they were up to," Fred said matter-of-factly, stepping onto Goyle and into the compartment Both he and George had their wands out, and George was careful to walk on Malfoy as he followed Fred in.

"Interesting effect," George said, looking down at Crabbe. "Who used the Furnunculus Curse?

"Me," Harry said.

"Strange," George said lightly. "I used Jelly-Legs. Looks like those two spells shouldn't been mixed together. He seems to have sprouted little tentacles all over his face. Well, let's not leave them here, they don't add much to the decor."

Fang, Iggy and George kicked, rolled and pushed the unconscious Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle- each of whom looked distinctly the worse for the jumble of jinxes in which they had been hit- out into the corridor, then came back in the compartment and closed the door.

"Exploding Snap, anyone?" Fred asked, pulling out a pack of cards.

We were halfway through our fifth game when I decided to ask them.

"You ever going to tell us?" I asked Fred and George. "Who you were blackmailing?"

"Oh," George said. "That."

"It doesn't matter," Fred said, shaking his head impatiently. "It wasn't anything important. Not now, anyway."

"We've given up," George shrugged.

But we all kept asking and asking, and finally Fred said, "All right, all right... If you really have to know... It was Ludo Bagman."

"Bagman?" Harry said sharply, "you saying he was involved in-"

"Nah," George said. "Nothing like that. Stupid git wouldn't have the brains for something like that."

"Well, what then?" Nudge asked.

Fred hesitated then said, "Remember when we made that bet at the Quidditch World Cup with him? About how Ireland would win, but Krum would catch the Snitch?"

"Still don't know how you two knew that was going to happen," Iggy muttered.

"Well the git paid us in leprechaun gold he'd caught from the Irish mascots."

"So?" Fang said.

"So," Fred said impatiently, "it vanished, didn't it? The whole lot was gone the next morning."

"But- it could've just been an accident, right?" Hermione said.

George laughed bitterly.

"Yeah, that's we thought at first. We thought if we wrote to him, explaining what happened, that he made a mistake, he'd cough it up. But nothing happened. Ignored our letter. We kept trying to talk to him at Hogwarts, but he was always making some excuse to get away from us."

"In the end, he turned pretty nasty," Fred said. "Told us that we were too young to be gambling and he wasn't going to give us anything."

"So we asked for our money back," George said, scowling. This was the angriest I'd ever seen the twins.

"He didn't refuse!" Hermione gasped.

Fred nodded. "Right in one."

"But that was all your savings!" Ron said.

"Tell me about it," George said grimly. "Course, we found out what was really happening in the end. Lee's dad had had a bit of trouble getting money off Bagman as well. Turns out he's in big trouble with the goblins. Borrowed loads of gold off them. A gang of them cornered him at the end of World Cup and took everything he had off him, and it still wasn't enough. They followed him all the way to Hogwarts, kept a close eye on him. He lost everything gambling. Hasn't got two Galleons to his name. And you want to know how the idiot tried to pay the goblins back?"

"How?" I said.

"He put a bet on Harry," Fred said. "Put a big bet that you'd win the tournament. Bet against the goblins."

"So that's why he kept trying to help you!" Iggy said, looking at Harry.

Harry frowned. "Well- I did win, didn't I? So he can pay you your gold?"

"Nope," George said, shaking his head. "The goblins play just as dirty as him. They say you drew with Diggory, and Bagman was betting that you'd win. So Bagman had to run for it. He did a runner after the third task."

George sighed deeply and started dealing the cards again.

The rest of the journey passed pleasantly enough. I wished that it could of gone on all summer, and we never arrived at Kings Cross... But I was also looking forward to seeing Angel and the Gasman again, the rest of the Weasley's, and even Total.

All too soon, the Hogwarts Express was pulling into platform nine and three-quarters. The usual noise and confusion filled the corridors as the students rushed to get to the platform. We struggled past Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle, but I noticed that Harry had stayed behind.

"Fred- George- wait a minute," I heard him say.

I frowned. What did he want with the twins?

It was then that I felt someone tap my shoulder. I turned around and saw Ethan St. James standing behind me.

"Oh, hi Ethan," I said. I hadn't spoken to Ethan properly since the Yule Ball. "What's up?"

"I just wanted to make sure you were okay. You know, after what happened," Ethan said.

He was staring at my face, where I knew there were still a few bruises and cuts from the graveyard.

I nodded. "Yeah, I'm fine. Madam Pomfrey fixed me up in no time," I said, smiling.

Ethan rolled his eyes. "You know that's not what I meant. You don't walk away from seeing You-Know-Who be reborn, and someone killed, and be fine."

"So you believe that he's back?" I said.

Ethan nodded. "Of course I do. I saw you and Harry when you got back to the maze. None of that stuff happened by accident."

I smiled for real this time. "Thanks. Not many people believe it," I said. "It's nice to know one more person does."

Ethan smiled, then pulled me into a hug. "I wish I could stay and talk, but my parents are waiting for me. See you Max."

"Bye, Ethan," I said, and he left onto the platform to his parents.

I turned back to the compartment that Harry and the twins were still in, and heard Harry saying, "Look, take it, or I'll hex you. I know some good ones now. Just do me a favour, okay? Buy Ron some new dress robes and say they're from you."

Then he left the compartment and almost ran straight into me.

"What did you give them?" I asked him.

Harry grinned and said, "I'm sure you'll figure it out sooner or later."

The two of us crossed through the barrier back into the Muggle world. I spotted Mrs Weasley standing close to Harry's relatives, with Angel, Gazzy and Total standing close to her.

Seeing Harry's relatives, an idea sparked in my mind.

We walked over to Mrs Weasley and while she hugged Harry and told him that he could visit over the summer, I got hugs from Angel and Gazzy.

While Ron, Fang and Iggy was saying bye to Harry, I hugged Hermione. "I'll try and write soon, okay?" I told her.

Hermione nodded. "Are you going to tell me what happened with you and Harry?"

Looking over my shoulder, and saw that Harry was still talking to the others, and I told her quickly what me and Harry had talked about earlier that day. Hermione's eyes widened. "He was going to ask you out?! Oh Max! Are you okay? I mean, are you sad that he didn't?"

I laughed at her reaction. "No, I'm fine. Really," I said.

I looked over my shoulder again and saw that Harry was about to walk off with his relatives. I ran up to him and stopped him.

"Max? What are you doing?" he asked.

"I know what you said earlier today, but do you want my help to make the Dursley's flustered and confused?" I said in a rush.

Harry gaped at me. "What are you talking about?"

"Do you trust me?"

He nodded.

I kissed him.

In front of the Dursley's.

I wrapped my arms around his neck and ran my fingers through his thick, dark hair. He put his arms around my waist and kissed me back. My stomach was doing flips and my heart was hammering in my chest. I didn't even care if Mrs Weasley saw us.

After a few seconds (the best few seconds in my life) we broke away from each other, blushing and breathing heavily.

"Why did you do that?" he asked.

I smiled and nodded my head towards the Dursley's. Harry's uncle looked both angry and confused, and his face was slowly going purple. His aunt was as pale as a sheet, and her hands were trembling. And Harry's cousin just looked mad and annoyed.

Harry laughed a little. "That's brilliant!"

I shrugged. "It's also supposedly our last kiss until Voldemort's gone, so... had to make it worth it."

Harry laughed again, and said, "I'll see you over the summer, Max."

"See you, Harry."

"Bye Harry!" Ron shouted.

"Take care, Harry!" Hermione called.

"Later, Harry!" Iggy said.

"Try not to get killed, Harry," Fang said.

"Harry- thanks," George said, and Fred nodded.

After Harry had gone with his relatives, Mrs Weasley marched over to me. "Maximum Ride, what were you thinking kissing Harry in front of everyone?"

"Sorry, Mrs Weasley. But did you see his families faces?" I said, smirking.

I saw Mrs Weasley's lips twitch, and she didn't mention it after that.

I knew there was no point worrying yet, I told myself as I followed the Weasley's.

Like Hagrid had said, what would come, would come... and we would all have to face it when it did.

* * *

><p><em><strong>THE END! <strong>_

_**Sorry if the ending the bad, but I'm really sick and tired. And thanks to PatrickNotStar for the idea of having Max kiss Harry in front of the Dursley's!**_

_**I will add another chapter to this one once the first chapter to Year 5 is up, so keep an eye out for both! Should have it started within the next few days. **_

_**Thanks to everyone who reviewed, and put this in their favourites and alerts. It really does mean a lot to me that you guys are so awesome. So thanks! **_

_**AND WE GOT 500! WHOOP! Thanks to Jabby who was the 500th reviewer, and to sherlockholmeslover who wanted to be the 500th, but missed out. Thanks though! **_

_**So, like always, REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW! for cookies and butterbeer, and for a faster Year 5!**_

_**Love you guys!**_

_**-Rach ;)**_


	36. AUTHOR'S NOTE!

_**AUTHORS NOTE! :P **_

_**Hey! Just a little authors note to let you know that the first chapter of Don't Think Just Do It: Year 5 is now up!**_

_**Enjoy the new story, and thank you all for being so amazing and supportive! You guys are all great, and if it wasn't for all of you, I wouldn't be writing these stories. **_

_**So a big thank you to all of you! :D **_

_**Love you guys!**_

_**-Rach ;)**_


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